Ectoplasm and Chakra
by Sholay
Summary: When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth is far different. Stranded in a strange new land, a world-weary Danny meets a young Naruto Uzukmaki. It is an odd turnabout to be only 'ordinary' in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel.
1. PART I - VLAD

Hello!

This fic is a **Danny Phantom x Naruto** crossover that I've been working on for 'quite' some time. I originally started this story on request for another ffdotnet member: _**One for Inspiration,**_ but the fic has grown into its own beast since then. _**One,**_ if you're reading this, I'm sorry it took so long for me to write this!

This story is entirely **written and completed.** I'll update each part every other week.

To anyone reading this who follows my other stories… yes… I've been gone from FFdotNet for a very long time. Life kind of sent me on a bender that I am slowly recovering from. I've updated my profile page with more info so please check there if you want to know more.

 **Disclaimer:** Danny Phantom is to Butch Hartman as Naruto is to Masashi Kishimoto. Just building castles in the sandboxes.

 **TIMELINE:** This story takes place in the divergent timeline introduced in the episode _The Ultimate Enemy,_ where Danny's family perished in the explosion of the Nasty Burger. This story also takes place before _all the events_ of Naruto.

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 **:o:**

 **Ectoplasm and Chakra**

 _When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth is far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply '_ ordinary' _in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel._

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: _Sholay_

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 **:o:**

 **PART I – VLAD**

 **:o:**

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"Daniel… Danny. I am sorry that we must meet for the first time under such circumstances. I… am the estate attorney representing your parents…"

—" _We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of three bright souls: Jack and Madeline Fenton and their daughter, Jasmine Fenton, who perished in the recent tragic explosion…"—_

"I am very sorry for your loss. I hope there's someone you can take into your confidence during this difficult time."

—"… _the terrible accident that also claimed the lives of Samantha Manson, Tucker Foley and a local high-school teacher…"—_

"We must conduct the reading of the Last Will and Testament of Jack Fenton and the Last Will and Testament of Madeline Fenton…"

—"… _Jack and Madeline Fenton, eccentric but brilliant individuals…"—_

"… as the sole living beneficiary, you shall inherit the estate of your parents upon reaching 18 years of age. Until that time, your inheritance shall remain in trust held by your guardian…"

—"… _Daniel Fenton, the sole survivor…"—_

"Regarding custody, your sister would have… ah, I'm very sorry…"

— "… _Jasmine Fenton, an exceptionally bright young woman, her promising life cut short much too soon…"—_

"In the event of mutual disaster, your parents have stated in their wills that your Godfather, Vladimir Masters shall have full custody until such time that he relinquishes custody or that you reach the age of majority, whichever should come first."

—"… _Vladimir Masters, closest friend of Jack Fenton, whose kindness and generosity has ensured that Jack, Madeline and Jasmine have a most respectful ceremony." —_

"The paperwork has all been completed. I've asked Mr. Masters to meet us here today. He is waiting in the next room to take you home."

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 **:o:**

* * *

The first days passed in numb shock. Then, the dark thoughts came and, like tuning thin wire strings on a violin, they slowly wound tighter, tighter and tighter, until they snapped to lash out and shear through his mind.

' _..My fault…'_

' _It was MY FAULT.'_

' _This is not a life. Not one worth living. If I… if… what if I just let go… would you hate—would you forgive me?'_

In retrospect, Danny should have known Jazz would be the first to come to him.

In life she'd been an inconsolable worrywart. Anyone who thought death would change that really didn't know Jasmine Fenton at all.

Once, years ago, their parents had travelled overseas and neglected to call after reaching their hotel. While Danny had separated the rainbows from the shooting stars in his late morning Lucky Charms, Jazz had called the airport, the hotel, the police, the _consulate_ , and the convention where their parents were presenting. She woke a dozen different people, whipped them all up into a frenzy and had the local police patrolling the streets for clues. Danny, ten years old at the time, was certain his parents had been kidnapped and taken away by the very ghouls and ghastly things they were always raving about.

As it turned out, their parents had forgone the conference for an impromptu trip to the Parisian Catacombs. They had neglected to inform their children of the change in plans. Maddie and Jack Fenton had been safe and sound and Jazz, choking on her own fury, had ranted and lectured them for hours. Surrounded by sulking elders, it was Danny who had ended up apologising quietly over the phone to the dozen tired, angry people his sister had riled up. For years the incident remained as a dark sword to be wielded against their parents at opportune times. ' _Remember that time you went to Paris…?_ ' became a harbinger to terse arguments and hurt feelings.

It was painful, now, to think of all the time they had wasted getting upset at one another… so much time _wasted_ taking each other for granted…

A worrywart and an overachiever. That was Jazz. Combine those two traits and it completely explained how she managed to manifest after only a month.

It took most ghosts at least three times that.

Danny was lying on his new bed: king sized, sprawling and disgustingly extravagant just like the rest of Vlad's mansion. After a month of living with the man, Danny was utterly drained. Physically, mentally, spiritually… There was nothing left.

It didn't even really have anything to do with Vlad. The man was dealing with his own loss and, despite all his big talk, Vlad really had no idea how to handle a teenager—let alone a morbidly depressed one. So Vlad did what he usually did upon finding himself in a mess: he removed himself from the situation in the hopes that Danny would miraculously sort himself out.

Needless to say, Vlad's method was not working. It had been a week since Danny had left the room—since the funerals. It was the fifth day he'd spent lying in bed.

He hadn't returned to school since _it_ happened.

Everything was slow and heavy. His limbs, his head and even his thoughts spiralled in slow, limited circles.

' _Sick of this… Tired of this… Useless… Without them I might as well be full ghost… So sick of this…'_

"Danny?" The voice was so quiet that he didn't even notice it at first.

"Danny?" The call came louder this time and his fingers twitched. He lay curled on his side, eyes half open in the not-awake, not-asleep daze he'd been in all day. He supposed it shouldn't really come as any surprise to him that he was hearing their voices now…

"Oh my goodness, what's happened to you? Get up, Danny! Are you hurt? Why are you just lying there? Get up!" It was this last order, so close and so audible that his eyes reflexively flicked up toward the noise. What he saw made his breath seize in his throat. He was suddenly shaking uncontrollably and the monster rose in his heart.

"J-azz?" The hoarse croak that left his parched lips sounded nothing like his own voice.

In a painful spasm, he threw himself up and sat up straight. The next moment he was doubling over, head to his knees, hugging himself as the world spun dizzyingly.

"Oh, you're hurt! You shouldn't have sat up so quickly! Where… What happened? Where are you hurt?" Jazz floated nearby and worried over his huddled form.

He focused hard on blinking the black spots out of his vision. The faintness wasn't too difficult to push back. What was harder to ignore was the chill seeping into his bones and the monster trying to smash through his chest.

Eventually, he did look up – wondering… wondering… if his eyes had been playing tricks…

But there, right in front of him, was Jazz—annoying, nagging, amazing, brilliant _Jazz_ —gasping and looking at him, her face creased in deep concern. The expression on her face was so familiar it stole his breath and made his heart sieze.

"Danny…"

Her knees weren't on the bed. She wasn't touching the bed. She was hovering over it.

He could see the door behind her. He could see _through_ her to the door behind her.

A long silence stretched between them as the two siblings drank in each other's appearances.

"Hi Jazz… guess I don't look so good, huh?" He meant to laugh but all that came out was a bone-weary sigh.

"Little brother, have you been sleeping?" She asked and eyed his face closely, "or eating? Why aren't you taking care of yourself?"

He took a breath, closed his eyed tiredly. _'Don't wanna to look at her. Don't want to see… not like this—but this! This might be the last time—!'_ He forced his eyes open—amazing, brilliant _deceased_ Jazz—forced himself to speak. "Jazz… don't you… do you remember what happened?"

Jazz hesitated, an inexplicable emotion entering her eyes. Then, to Danny's immense guilty relief, she nodded.

Danny didn't know what he would've done if he had to explain to his sister that she was dead.

' _Ghost now. Barely. Hardly formed.'_

"I was so scared that you died too." She confessed. "What about everyone else?"

"Everyone's dead." He said hollowly, looking down at his hands. The world had stopped spinning but he still felt weak. So damnably _weak_. "You, Mom, Dad, Sam, Tucker. Even Mr. Lancer. Dead. All dead."

She made a distressed sound somewhere in her throat. Then she cast her eyes around the room. "Where are we?"

"Vlad's." Dimly, he wanted to spit at the irony. But his voice remained flat. Monotonous. "Finally got what he wanted, in the end. Though now he's got me, he doesn't know what to do with me."

Jazz looked confused, understandably. She didn't know about his and Vlad's feud, after all.

"Danny…" She started slowly. "What you're doing to yourself, it has to stop."

"You've no idea—" His bland, quiet words were easily drowned by her fervour.

"It's late afternoon and you're lying in bed!" She said emphatically. "And from the look of you, you haven't moved or washed for days! You've lost weight, you look so… so…" She couldn't finish, but he had no trouble doing it for her.

"Dead?" His eyes were on the comforter under his hands. His weak fingers couldn't even properly fist into the material.

"Don't _say_ that!" She hissed and leaned down to him. "You're _not dead!_ "

"But you are!" He cried as the monster suddenly rose up straight into his throat, into his voice. After days of drugged fog, his mind came into crystal clarity and his stinging eyes flew up to meet hers. "You are, Mom and Dad are and Sam and Tucker are and you know what? _I wish I was too!_ "

"Don't—!" She started, but he didn't give her the opportunity to finish.

"It's _my fault!_ If I hadn't cheated on that test—!"

"You couldn't have known—"

" _I_ should have _saved_ you!"

He felt an old, familiar prickling around his eyes, something he hadn't felt in a long time. Jazz's expression was showing alarm and Danny knew his blue eyes were glowing green.

"Do you see what I am?! I have this thing inside of me. This… this… I have so much power… And for what? Why? Why couldn't I use it? All this strength and I _couldn't save the only people I care about!_ " He was crying. _Again_. God, he thought he'd exhausted all his tears long ago.

"Oh, Danny, shh… shh…" Responding to his anguish, she drew closer in comfort. One of her hands rose to his face. As close as she was though, he was keenly aware that she wasn't touching him.

 _Couldn't_ touch him.

Her body flickered. Faded. They looked at each other, both understanding that their time was short.

"Listen to me, my brother. Some things are unpredictable. The explosion… no one could have seen that coming, not even you. You can't change that—or this, even. You can't."

"I—"

"There are some things not even _Danny Phantom_ can stop." She said and he froze at the meaningful expression she was giving him.

"You… you know…"

"I've known for a while." She nodded. "But I wanted to give you time to tell me yourself. To become comfortable and confident enough to tell me yourself."

"Never." He vowed quietly. He slumped back onto the pillows, exhausted with his emotions.

' _Monstrous thing.'_

"What? Why? Danny, all the good you could do—"

"I don't care." And in that moment, that was the complete truth. Without the people that he cared about in it, the whole world could rot. "This is a curse. I don't want it. Danny Phantom is dead. Gone."

' _I should be, too.'_

"That's not true!" She shouted, and he sighed, tilting his head back to look at her indignant form. "It is not true that you don't care. I know you, Danny, and right now you're hurt and lost but I know you are a strong person. A good person. A loving person. And… it's not true that Danny Phantom no longer exists for you."

This last sentence resonated. A flicker of disquiet twitched his brows downward as his eyes narrowed. "What're you talking about?"

"If Danny Phantom did not exist you would not have flashed that little eye-colour change back there." She gestured at his eyes. "You are using your ghost abilities as a scapegoat. But you're lying to yourself. You _are_ Danny Phantom. Your ghost half is as much a part of you as your human half. You can't disown part of yourself and blame it for everything that's gone wrong."

Again, her body faded out of sight. When she didn't reappear, Danny sat up in alarm.

"Jazz?" He asked in a small voice but got no answer.

A deeply lonely, hollow feeling settled into his chest and he felt suddenly sick, suddenly guilty, horrible that he'd been given precious moments with his sister and had wasted them arguing with her pointlessly.

He curled into himself on the bed, putting his hands over his ears as though that would quieten his thoughts.

Much later, he woke from a doze and wondered if he'd hallucinated Jazz's entire visit.

Regardless, one thought stuck with him – a lingering idea sparked by her words. An idea that circled in his mind and brought with it a new resolution.

' _Disown it.'_

That evening, he tracked down Vlad, much to the elder man's surprise.

"Daniel, my boy, you don't look well. Are you sure you should be out of bed?" Vlad's concern seemed genuine as he looked down at Danny, swaying on unsteady feet and barefoot, clothed only in wrinkled pyjamas.

Danny noticed that Vlad did not look so great himself but couldn't gather the effort to give voice to the quip. He cut straight to the point.

"Do you have something which can split my human half from my ghost half?"

' _It's a monster. It is. Mom. Dad. You always say ghosts are evil… So… If I take it out, I'll be good again. Right? I won't feel like this anymore. Right?'_

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 **:o:**

* * *

Danny fumed. His arms were crossed tightly over his chest and he huffed petulantly.

Vlad had kicked him out of the house.

It had been over two weeks since Danny asked Vlad to separate his human and ghost halves. Vlad had agreed to try but so far wasn't coming up with any results. Apparently permanent separation wasn't as easy to achieve as a simple waltz through the Fenton Ghost Catcher. Danny had been badgering Vlad for updates constantly and the man had finally reached the edge of his tether.

"Daniel, enough is enough! I told you I am working on it and you _will_ accept my answer! This is a complex and delicate process and I cannot have you breathing down my neck every second. Why don't you take a walk through the garden or something? You haven't been outside the house in weeks." With those words Vlad had ushered Danny to the door, practically tossing the boy out of the house.

Vlad's parting words were a barely veiled threat:

"Don't go further than the gates. I _will_ know if you've left the property. It would be rather… unpleasant if I had to hunt you down and bring you back." Vlad's warning look told Danny exactly for whom it would be unpleasant if he tried to run away.

Danny nearly gagged, physically feeling the strain of Vlad's leash tightening around his throat.

" _Take a walk like a good dog and I'll let you in when I feel like dealing with you again,'_ " was what Vlad was telling him and it repulsed Danny.

But not enough to rebel and try to run away. He needed Vlad. Vlad was going to take out his ghost, Danny reminded himself.

Three hours after he'd been 'let out', Danny still hadn't made it passed the front porch. He'd travelled two steps, sunk into a cushioned bench swing, pulled his knees to his chest and sat there. He tried to put his mind to brooding or sulking but mostly he spent the time just staring blankly off into space.

It was late afternoon when a lone figure walking up the driveway brought him out of his doze.

"Danny! Is that you?"

Valerie Grey.

"Val…?" Danny squinted at the girl blearily. "What…?"

"I… I wanted to see how you were doing. I got my Dad to drive me up here and… Danny, you look terrible." She stood over his huddled form, looking down at him in naked concern.

He just turned his head away, resting his cheek on his knees. "So I've been told." He mumbled.

"You can't do this to yourself, Danny." Valerie decided. She seemed to have abruptly taken it upon herself to whip him back into shape. Her voice was strong and she took a seat next to him. The bench rocked at the added weight. Danny didn't even stir at the change in balance.

She continued speaking insistently. "I know… it hurts…When my Mom…" Valerie's voice trailed off; then she seemed to gather herself and forcibly threw herself on another track. "You can't just sit and dwell in your loss. Your family wouldn't want you to lose yourself like this. It would tear them up to know what you're doing to yourself. This was a terrible _horrible_ accident. Trust me, Danny, when I say that this was an accident. I worked at the Nasty Burger all year and I had no idea…

If Danny had been paying more attention, he might have noticed how Valerie's eyes were tearing up and how her voice held the heaviness of her own guilt. But he was too wrapped up in his own pain and all he felt was her hand as it came down on his knee.

He twitched, curling tighter, and Valerie immediately withdrew.

"You don't understand." He said quietly to his knees. "I am to blame. This is my fault… but… soon… soon that won't matter. It's going to be better soon."

She looked alarmed at the wistfulness in his tone. "Danny, what are you thinking of doing? Don't… don't do anything… don't… Isn't Mr. Masters looking after you? You should be telling him if you're having any thoughts of… of…"

"Vlad is going to help me." He informed her vaguely and this just made her look of horror increase.

"No! No, he can't—!"

"He will. He has to. He _agreed_." Danny stressed. It didn't quite occur to him that he and Valerie were arguing about two different things.

"Then… Then I'm going to talk to him!" She stood decisively. "I know him a little bit and I'm sure he'll listen to me." She made to turn away and head to the door.

"No…" He denied. She didn't stop and he panicked. "NO!" Danny shouted, eyes wide.

The force of his voice shocked even him. The last time he'd screamed like that was six weeks ago, when the lawyer had told him that Vlad was his new guardian.

Danny unfolded his legs and struggled to push himself up off the bench. It was embarrassingly difficult to keep his balance while pushing up and out of the rocking chair but eventually he was on his feet, standing eye to eye with Valerie.

"Don't!" He gasped. Panted. "You can't tell him anything! I—he—I _have_ to do this!"

"Danny, I'm not going to let you kill yourself! And if Masters is willing to let you do it—worse—to _help_ you, then he's not fit to be your guardian! Maybe you're right. I shouldn't be talking to him. I should be talking to social services!"

"No, nonono…" But Valerie was again turning away from him, this time to head down the patio steps and leave the mansion. Danny sidled in front of her and blocked her way. "Don't do this, Valerie." He pleaded.

"Danny, I care about you—"

"You shouldn't. You _wouldn't_ … Not if you knew…" His tongue felt like sandpaper in his mouth and his eyes were wide. The monster was rising in his chest; his mind was yelling at him ' _No, no NO!'_ but his mouth was moving and all he wanted was for her to see him for what he was.

' _All ghosts are evil. There are no exceptions.'_ His Mother spoke in his head.

Valerie was silent, watching him with wide eyes as he continued speaking.

"You said my family wouldn't blame me for their deaths. But they _would_. Don't you see? It's so clear, right in front of your face. How could you not have figured it out yet?" His fingers tangled in his hair and he shook his head fitfully.

"Figured what out?" Valerie's gaze was concerned, worried, and he wanted viciously to make her _stop looking at him_ like that.

"Danny Fenton, Danny _Phantom?_ It's not even that good of a cover. My face doesn't change, or my voice. Didn't you wonder why we always skipped class at the same time? Why Phantom knew about our flour sack? How Phantom knew you weren't in your suit that time? Why I didn't fight harder to stay together? Why Sam and Tucker are—" He choked, sobbed, "—were… so against us?"

Valerie's mouth was opening and closing but no sound was coming out. She shook her head. "What… What? No… What… What are you saying?" She stammered uncomprehendingly. Her expression pleaded with him to say that this was a joke, that he wasn't saying what she thought he was saying.

He was suddenly quite calm, all the screaming in his mind was silent and he felt like he was an observer in his own head. Calmly, he spoke the words that would end their friendship forever. "I'm saying, Valerie, that _I am Danny Phantom_."

Then, for the first time since he'd watched everyone he loved burn in giant explosion, a glowing ring of white snapped into existence at his waist. The monster came roaring out from his chest and consumed him.

The chill of his ghost form penetrated his body more sharply than he remembered. His gloved hands clenched into fists at his sides as a rush of strength and _power_ raced through him with euphoric thrill. He bit down on the foul energy and he snarled at how readily his body took on the monster. The ring of cold power seared over his eyelids and when he opened them he let them glow unabashedly, showing Valerie the true extent of what he was.

"You see now? Do you understand?" He was wrong. He voice _did_ change with his ghost form. It gained a freakish echo. " _This_ is what I am. All this time I've been lying to myself, trying to play the hero…. I know better now. My family is dead and it's _my fault_. Do you understand what you're seeing, Valerie? I'm a ghost."

"No. You aren't… You can't be…" She was backing away from him, shaking her head in denial. Betrayal was in her eyes but something darker drew her lips into a thin line and caused her to crouch into an aggressive stance. To this darkness, he responded. His resolve set firm.

"You need to leave now." He told her. "But don't worry, Vlad is going to help me. I'm going to do my best to become good again… and if I can't, then I promise you that you'll never see me again. Goodbye, Val."

Her eyes burned through him but he didn't allow her the time to reply. He shot into the air, never looking back. To his shame, the only emotion he felt as he flew away was the breathtaking exhilaration of being free in the sky again.

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 **:o:**

* * *

"Now Daniel, I'm still strongly apprehensive about this entire thing. The design is a prototype and has only been tested on a minute scale. It is a monumental task to cause separation at the cellular level—"

"Vlad, I don't care. Just do it. If it doesn't work then I'll have a few more scars. Nothing new."

Vlad actually winced. At some point over the past three months that they'd lived together, he seemed to have grown quite soft toward Danny, though the teen could only guess why. They rarely saw each other; Danny spent his days locked in his room and Vlad was either at work or down in his lab. It was an impressive feat if they even exchanged two words during the day. When had Vlad found time to turn friendly?

"I don't think you understand, my boy. These gauntlets are designed to penetrate your body and rip out the ectoplasm. If they fail then it will likely be because they ripped out something _other_ than ectoplasm."

"…Oh." Of course, that explained it. Vlad was concerned because he didn't want to lose his new pet son. "Ok. So?" Danny shrugged blandly and Vlad blanched.

"Surely you don't still want—"

' _You_ _ **owe me**_ _this.'_ Danny thought viciously but he was so drained that the emotion didn't even make its way to his face. "Listen to me, Vlad. Either you do this for me now or I'll find a way to get into your lab and do it myself later. At least this way you can be sanitary about it." His matter-of-fact statement had its desired effect. Vlad's expression hardened and he gestured to a flat table outfitted with heavy ghost-proof restraints.

Danny nodded stiffly and pulled himself onto the table. The restraints clamped down over his wrists, his ankles, his hips and his shoulders. They were cold and hard and custom-made to fit his body. They didn't allow him an inch of wiggle room and he had to grit his teeth against the instinctive urge to fight them. He hatedrestraints.

Vlad was pulling on a sanitary mask and slipping the massive metal gloves onto his hands.

With a sinister _shiiiink!_ fearsome nails extended out of each of the ten fingertips and _that_ was when Danny felt his first twinge of uncertainty. His heart jumped reflexively at the sight of those ten-inch spikes. If something went wrong when Vlad impaled him with those, Danny _would_ die. Was he ready to die? Did he really want this?

' _All ghosts are evil.'_

Even if it succeeded, was he ready to part with his ghost half? He had failed his family and friends but hadn't he also saved people?

' _I don't want to be evil.'_

 _'...If I die... I might see them again.'_

His last thought, as Vlad sank the claws into his body and plunged him into a sea of agony, was a dim sadness that he would never get to fly again.

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 **:o:**

* * *

Fear.

The terror bled from him like the red life that ran from his punctured stomach. It consumed him. He couldn't think as his entire world consisted of the overpowering urge to run and hide.

Only he couldn't run. He was still bound hand and foot to the table. All he could do was cower and cry.

Something had gone wrong.

Vlad had ripped out his ghost half, as promised. Between the waves of pain, he remembered one glorious moment of guilt-free relief and then everything had gone straight to Hell.

Briefly, he had looked into the eyes of his ghost-half and in that vivid gaze he'd found such hurt and betrayal that it resonated as a spiritual pain within his own being. Then, the moment was broken and the ghost, his ghost— _Phantom_ —had turned on Vlad. Phantom's face had transformed into something bestial in its black rage.

Vlad only had time to blanche before Phantom had ripped himself free of the gauntlets with a wild shriek of pain. So shocked was Vlad by this display of masochistic willpower that he was unable to protect himself when the ghost, dripping ectoplasm, had lunged and struck Vlad across the temple with a vicious right hook.

Then, suddenly the gauntlets were on Phantom's hands. Then Vlad was screaming and then _Phantom_ was screaming.

Somehow, Plasmius and Phantom had combined. Combined in a horrific, hideous way and Danny was abruptly seized by the strong premonition that they had made a very bad mistake.

The energy this new ghost was discharging tore through the room, shattering glassware and shorting out machinery. Something to Danny's left exploded and he flinched, but was unable to go far as the restraints held him tightly in place. Something on the countertop was on fire and Vlad was face down, completely unconscious, too close to the rising flames. Danny began to struggle in earnest against the restraints, a bubble of true panic rising in his throat. For the first time in a long time he begged for help from that cold monster that resided in his heart.

But as he'd thrown it away it now abandoned him.

He was no longer half ghost.

Slowly the ringing in his ears died enough for Danny to realize that Phantom-Plasmius' screams had turned into manic giggling. Danny's heart pounded in his ears and his breathing quickened. There was too much smoke in the room. An alarm was blaring—what was going on? Danny couldn't see Phantom anymore—had he—?

A face pierced through the smoke and thrust right up into Danny's, inciting an involuntary yelp of fear and shock. The face that stared back blinked at him with equally wide eyes but then it's mouth, much wider than Danny's own, stretched out into a wide grin and a black snake's tongue unrolled to hang lazily in the air.

"Ssso…" The thing hissed and Danny utterly froze as a clawed hand came up to touch his cheek. "I hate me that much that I would curse me out to less than half an existence? Not me anymore is it? I am new now. Different. _More_ or _less?_ Two-halves—they smash together and don't quite fit. But they will. They will. I cast me aside so I don't want you, me, anymore. How does it feel to be alone, little me? Less than whole—half a creature?"

Danny couldn't say anything, his tongue completely tied in his head. He could only cringe when the hand gripping his face turned bruising. The ghost held Danny's jaw tight and drew blood with its nails.

"Only human now, yes, little me?" Phantom-Plasmius said manically and leaned in, head twitching to slant sideways. "I have a secret, me." It said. "Do I want to know?"

"W-what?" Danny coughed.

" _I_ … wasn't the one who cheated on that test. It wasn't _my_ fault my parents were meeting Lancer outside the Nasty Burger to talk about my cheating. It wasn't _my_ fault Sam, Tucker and Jazz all went to plead on my behalf. It. Wasn't. _Me_."

The words were shards of truth in his heart and Danny screwed his eyes shut, cringing, trying to hide from the pain. But when the ghost's hand slammed down on his neck, cutting off his air, Danny's eyes snapped open.

"Call _me_ a monster! Want me to become a monster? Now I AM! I AM A MONSTER NOW!" With a roar, the ghost pulled Danny by the throat through his restrains intangibly and tossed him across the room. Danny cried out as his back hit a table and he went skidding over the top, clearing it of books and glassware as he flew. Reaching the table's end, he tumbled uncontrollably over the edge, letting out a cry as he landed on the ground. There was a hiss, a crack and something exploded to his left, sending heated shards cutting across his face.

He hadn't yet gathered his wits before his hands were pushing on the ground. He crab-walked backward blindly in his panic, mind numb with fear, heedless of the broken shards cutting bloody strips into his palms. Above his head, a light bulb splintered and rained downward. The flames rose higher. The heat was beginning to hurt. Sweat dripped into his eyes and he panted, then coughed, then choked. Acrid smoke burned his throat and made his eyes water.

Only when he felt walls on both sides of himself did he realize he'd backed himself into a corner. Fire was everywhere, the crackle of the flames deafening, and behind the smoke loomed the sinister outline of the monster he had created.

There was nowhere left to run. Danny's eyes stung, blurry, and he felt the tears running down his cheeks. The fumes were stifling his lungs. He coughed, but the air he drew in burned even more, driving him into a fit until he could only wheeze weakly as the world spun before his eyes. He shook with the fear of suffocation and pressed himself against the wall, instincts screaming at him to make use of powers he no longer had.

He wrapped his arms around himself—over the puncture wounds from the Ghost Gauntlets—as though trying to hold himself together.

"I am the monster… " The ghost hissed, looking down at Danny as it rose above the flames.

Danny tilted his chin up. For the first time, he took in the ghost's appearance—the image of the monster he had created—and it was a nightmarish thing.

A patchwork of Phantom and Plasmius, the creature had Danny's face but topped by a head of fire instead of hair. Plasmius echoed in the bloodless, blue skin and the tattered cap. Phantom was visible in the slender frame and charred jumpsuit.

The feverish look on the ghost's face was foreign to both Phantom and Plasmius. Wild. Insane.

"Oh God…" Danny whispered, hands rising to cover his mouth as he began to understand. "What have we done?"

"I am NOT a monster! I AM!" The ghost leaned down and bellowed this contradictory declaration in Danny's face.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Danny whispered. There was nothing else he could say.

"'I'm sorry'?" The ghost echoed. For an instant, the ghost's face gained child-like confusion. Loss. But in the next instant the too wide grin was back and the ghost cackled.

"I will kill you, little me, and _then_ I won't be 'sorry'. I'll be dead!" It declared.

Danny trembled but he met the ghost's eyes evenly.

"Do it." He said, and he meant it.

The ghost raised its clawed hand.

' _Dead end. I lose. Sorry, guys, that I turned out to be such a coward.'_

Conceding his defeat utterly, Danny closed his eyes and waited for the end.

A moment passed, then two, and his brow furrowed as more time passed and he felt no pain.

His eyes opened and he looked up from his submission, meeting eyes that had once been his but now reflected the colour of dripping blood. Their gazes locked.

' _Why?'_ He silently asked the creature before him.

He would never know the reason for Phantom's inability to kill him. The ghost merely considered his pitiful, defeated figure with an unfathomable expression. Then, without a backward glace or any explanation, it turned and, with an expulsion of sickly-looking, green-pink energy, rocketed through the ceiling.

Hardly audible over the blaze of the fire, the sparking of the electronics and the thudding of his own pulse in his ears, was an urgent beeping. Looking over, Danny saw that Phantom-Plasmius had left a parting gift: the ectofiltrator of Vlad's Ghost Portal had been blasted to a gooey mess and it dripped over the console of the Portal. Without that filter, the Portal couldn't regulate its system. There was, maybe, half a minute before the entire thing would explode, taking the house and surrounding half-mile out with it.

From his position on the ground, Danny gazed up at the Portal as it counted down the last seconds of his life and let out a bone-weary sigh.

That was it, then. His end. How fitting that the last Fenton would meet also meet his end in a massive, fiery explosion.

His head drooped, strands of sweaty, too-long black hair falling in front of his eyes.

And Phantom had left him to die here alone.

' _No. Not alone…'_ His eyes flicked to Vlad's unconscious body. Though covered with black filth and shards of glass, the man was still thankfully untouched by the fire.

Danny found himself grateful for this. No matter if they both died in half a minute, he didn't want to witness Vlad burning to death,

' _You were a fruitloop and a shoddy guardian_. _'_ He thought at the man.

 _'But...'_

There were half-remembered instances of kindness: the occasional hand on his head, a dark figure haloed in light peering into his room in the dead of night…

' _You aren't all bad.'_ Danny allowed.

Vlad, at least, hadn't killed anyone.

"I'm sorry." Danny whispered to Vlad's deaf ears. "If I could change anything, it'd be that you wouldn't die here with me."

The Ghost Portal was blaring alarmingly, the red light of its emergency indicator dying the room crimson. The panel on the console counted down.

' _Five…'_ Danny followed the numbers. _'Four.'_

' _Three. I'm going to see you soon, guys.'_

' _Two.'_ Something in Danny's heart seized and he involuntarily let out a pained keen. _'Oh God, I don't want to—_ ' He violently stifled the thought.

' _One.'_

Danny's eyes closed.

" **TIME OUT!** "

The call came out of nowhere and the strong voice behind it was foreign. Danny felt a bizarre sensation: the world _stiffened_.

A blast of cool air hit his flushed cheeks.

No explosion.

His eyes shot open. He made to stand up but the movement was aborted as his stomach aggressively reminded him that it had a few more holes punched into it than normal.

 _'I'm... alive?'_

A ghost floated before him. Cloaked in a voluminous purple robe the ghost had a scarred face and held a bizarre sceptre crowned by a glowing clock.

The sudden appearance of this new and unknown ghost was definitely strange but Danny was more immediately distracted by the fact that the world had suddenly and inexplicably frozen around him.

He gazed around himself with wide eyes. There were tongues of fire frozen mid-reach, glowing sparks hung suspended in the air like miniature stars and across the room he could see the very beginning of the explosion that was supposed to end his life.

 _'I'm alive.'_ He was relieved?

Confused, dazed and disoriented, he reached out to touch the flames closest to him.

"I would advise against that, Daniel."

Danny recoiled at the voice, and grimaced as his body protested the movement. Looking up he noticed that the ghost before him had a long, prominent beard that spilled over his cloak and obscured much of his face. That was odd—he hadn't noticed a beard before.

"While we are currently existing safely outside of time, it is ill-advised to influence haphazardly with the frozen realm."

"What…?" Danny had no idea what the ghost was talking about. "Who are you? And how do you know me?"

"My name is Clockwork. I am the Master of Time and I know you because I have been tasked with watching you. I have come before you to offer—"

"Wait. You're the _Master of Time?_ " Danny interrupted incredulously. "There's a ghost in charge of _Time_?"

"Yes. While I understand your disbelief, I beg that you take a look around yourself. I doubt you could find a more fitting demonstration of my abilities." The ghost's voice was dry.

 _'I'm_ still _alive.'_ Irritation flashed through Danny.

" _You_ did this?" Danny asked, gesturing at the world frozen around them. The ghost nodded and Danny continued. "Right… Ok, then. Excuse me if I'm slow. It isn't everyday I get interrupted mid-dramatic death scene to chat with a time-traveller." Oh… where had _that_ come from? It had been a while since he'd pulled out snark like that.

"I am not a time _traveller_." The ghost corrected mildly. "I can see through time but time-travelling is trite. It is only done by those incapable of solving their own mistakes in time."

Danny didn't really have anything kind to say to that, so he just stayed quiet and waited for the ghost to hurry up and get to his point.

 _'So close... I'm so close to seeing you again...!'_

"My job, as a guardian, is to keep watch over time and ensure that things are proceeding as they should. On that note, I have come to offer you a choice, Daniel Fenton. What I will ask you is such: do you want to live?"

"… Huh?" Danny blinked, not comprehending the question as it seemed to bounce right off his finely laid plans for his near future.

"Perhaps I should explain. This situation… it is quite unprecedented. My station has always been that of a watcher, never an interferer. Simply by coming here to meet you, I am offending the natural order and contravening innumerable rules. The Observants vowed never to interfere with what is meant to be. But I am different, I have insight on what is, what could be, what may be, what shall be… and I am here to give you the opportunity to change the current course of your fate."

" _Change_ the—? What? How…?" Danny still didn't understand.

Before his eyes, the ghost's appearance altered: from an old man, the ghost took on the body of a young child. His eyes remained keen and it was unnerving to see such a severe expression on a child's face.

"It is unfortunate that we have come to this point." The ghost stated, gazing around at the ruined lab. "I had hoped you would have been stronger, that you would have fought through your depression and not allowed yourself to resort to such irrational desperation…"

The disappointment in the ghost's tone sent twin needles of shame and outrage through Danny. How dare this ghost judge him?

"Yet here we are and, in spite of everything, I find that I still have faith in you." The ghost considered him. "I heard your wish and want to know: what would you give?"

Danny wondered if he really was exceptionally slow because he _still_ had no idea what this ghost was talking about. "Huh?" He asked intelligently.

To his surprise, the ghost gave him a soft smile. The expression emphasized the scar running over his lip. "What would you give," the ghost repeated, "to save the life of that one?" and with a slow motion, the ghost swept out an arm and gestured at Vlad.

"Oh…" Now Danny understood. Or he thought he did, anyway. "What do I have to give? I have nothing worth anything. But… I do want to save him. I haven't really been fair to him. He tried. He actually _tried_ for me. And… he's one crazy fruitloop but I still… his life... I care about his life. I care about him." Now _that_ was a revelation. When did that happen anyway? "It's my fault he's in this mess and I don't want any more people to die because of me. So… what _do_ I have to give?"

The ghost was silent as he stared into Danny's eyes, searching for something. At length, the reply came. "Your life."

"My… life?" Danny scoffed derisively. "Ha! Yes. Sure. I'll give my life. I was going to die anyway. If Vlad survives on the way then I'll at least have one less regret as I head on."

"You misunderstand." The ghost hummed, and morphed again—this time changing from child to adult. "I am not asking you to give up your life. I am asking you to _keep_ it."

"Come again?" Danny blinked, and then the implications of the ghost's words sunk in and he felt a cold chill run down his spine.

"I am saying that in order for you to save Vlad's life, you, too, must choose to continue living."

"I…" He stammered. This was a whole different thing altogether. It shouldn't really be such a difficult decision. And yet, quitting had seemed like the one last thing he had any control over. If this ghost took even that choice from him…

"You... you don't get it. I… can't live here. I can't keep living here…" He pleaded.

"I understand. I do not approve, but I have foreseen this and I can arrange to take you somewhere far away from Amity Park."

Danny gaped at the ghost for a long time. His brain felt like a jammed clock clicking ineffectively and he just couldn't… couldn't…

"Wait… wait, um…"

"Clockwork." The ghost supplied patiently, somehow divining that Danny was searching for his name.

"Right. Clockwork." He nodded, feeling a familiar wry twinge at the irony. He could hardly judge; he called himself Danny _Phantom_ after all.

Or he used to. Someone—some _thing_ —else owned that name now.

Something the ghost had said was bothering Danny. "You said… you said something about being a guardian?"

"Yes." Clockwork acknowledged.

"And you watched me, specifically?" A frown twitched on Danny's eyebrows as he asked this question.

"Yes, I was charged with the duty of ensuring you continued on the proper path."

"Then… then why? Why didn't you stop it? Why didn't you help me save them?" Danny's voice broke and he felt his eyes well as he stared up at the ghost.

Clockwork looked displeased. Or conflicted. Danny couldn't tell. "Everything… is as it should be."

Danny's eyes widened and he swept at his eyes angrily. "How can you say—!"

"It may sound cold to you, child, but no one may escape the cycle of life and death."

"But you're interfering in that to save me right now!"

"Your time has not yet come."

"Who decides that? _You_?"

"I don't expect you to understand. But you will accept my words. Your family and friends are dead. You are not and, if you wish for that man to survive the night, then you will continue to live." Clockwork spoke with infinite patience and not an ounce of warmth and it made Danny's blood boil. If only he weren't crippled by the wounds to his stomach, he would have given this _Clockwork_ a piece of his mind.

If he weren't crippled by…

In that brief moment, Danny mourned the loss of his ghost powers.

"You…" Danny was flabbergasted. Words failed him as he tried to express how he felt toward Clockwork in that moment. "I… Fine." He raised his chin. "I agree. Now what?"

Clockwork had the gall to look pleased. "Now I will remove us from this unpleasant setting." Raising his sceptre, Danny only had the time to blink and look around himself in alarm before his vision was overcome by swirling green energy.

When the green cleared, Danny felt himself fall back down onto a cushioned seat. He groaned and pressed a bloody palm to his stomach. When the waves of agony subsided to something more bearable, he opened his eyes and looked around.

He was someplace dark. Clockwork was floating nearby—again in the shape of an old, bearded man—and Vlad was unconscious on a red upholstered couch matching the armchair Danny was currently seated on. The walls were tall arches of medieval stone blocks and there was a deep, constant tick-tocking that reverberated straight through his heart. He looked up and the source of the sound became clear: countless giant cogs and gears turned, turned, turned, grinded and pushed against one another, high above his head.

He was in a giant clock tower.

"Before we go through with this," Clockwork was saying, and Danny tore his eyes away from the dizzying, slightly nauseating sight of the infinite cogs, to focus back in on the ghost. "I must ask you again: are you certain you will not return to Amity Park?"

Danny's expression darkened. "Yes."

"Even if I tell you that the ghost you had a direct hand in creating is currently making a beeline toward your hometown, intent on destruction and cutting a swath of devastation wherever he goes?"

He swallowed. The guilt and responsibility were heavy on his shoulders. "I… am sure someone will stop him." He said. Clockwork gave him an unimpressed look, but as Danny continued to speak he became more certain. "The Guys in White. Valerie. Vlad. What can I do that they can't?"

Clockwork gave him a strange expression. "You discredit yourself too quickly, hybrid."

"Except I'm not anymore, am I?" Danny's vision was beginning to fade from blood loss but he made an effort to look Clockwork straight in the eye as he said this. He felt oddly defiant.

' _It's gone. Nothing you or I can do about it now.'_ Danny thought at Clockwork.

"I'm useless as the next person now." Danny continued in a low voice. "So me and Vlad created one more evil ghost. Big deal. Seems to me the world was doing better before Danny Phantom came along, anyway."

Clockwork rested his cryptic stare on Danny and the boy felt his own gaze slipping away from that oppressive gaze. The ghost seemed to be _expecting_ something of him, and for whatever reason, he was sure he was falling short of those expectations. Hunching into himself, he gripped his elbows and cast his eyes to his knees. Something tiny and sharp twisted behind his ribs, but he suffocated it long before it could turn into regret.

He pressed his lips against his teeth, stubbornly staying silent and waiting for Clockwork's decision. He hoped it would come quickly—his head was pounding and his throat and lungs burned.

"Very well." The ghost said at length, and some of the tension eased out of Danny's shoulders. "I respect your choice."

"Before you leave I will gift you this: the symbol of _Ajna_." Clockwork drew a glowing sign in the air, which, to Danny's eyes, looked much like a stylized '30' crowned by the flourish of a pen stroke. "It will allow you to speak and understand the language. Unfortunately, there is no quick spell to teach you how to read or how to write. You will have to learn that on your own."

"Wait… language? Where am I going?" Danny asked as Clockwork made a vague gesture in his direction. The glowing symbol floated over to Danny, shimmering before his face, before it swept around to Danny's back.

"Wait—"

"Hold still." Clockwork ordered. "The symbol must be placed in the correct spot otherwise the magic will be ineffective."

Despite his better judgement, he did hold still. The magic crackled and it felt like a hot needle was being pressed against the back of his neck. He hissed and raised a hand to clap over the spot.

"Leave it. The power must settle and you should not irritate it any more than necessary. Now, I have readied the portal." At Clockwork's feet was a glowing tear in the ground, dark purple energy swirled within the vortex and it didn't look at all enticing to Danny.

"You want me to jump into that?" He asked, reluctantly lowering his hand from his still stinging neck.

"If you wish to leave, then this is your path."

Tentatively, Danny stood, arms wound around his midsection. He drew in a sharp breath between cinched teeth and stepped forward on wobbly legs to gaze warily into the portal.

"Your wounds are severe." Clockwork noted the obvious. "Unfortunately, I cannot heal them. Nor do I possess any medicine to ease the pain. However, the people in the place to which you are headed will care for you suitably."

"Right. The _place_. And where is this _place_ exactly?"

"You will soon find out. Now step through, Daniel. Unless there is something else you wish to tell me."

"Right… " He thought for a moment and, as far as he could see, there was really only one loose string that needed tying. "Just…" He hesitated. "Just, promise me you won't tell him, ok?"

"Who, Daniel?"

"Vlad." Danny nodded to the man still lying on the couch unconscious. "Don't tell him I'm alive. I… would prefer if no one knew, but especially him." _'He doesn't need to know that I would rather run away to some unknown place than live with him.'_ What was the emotion driving that thought? He didn't know, and didn't really want to know.

Clockwork was once again considering Danny closely but, eventually, the time master nodded.

"I will do as you ask."

"Thank you." Danny breathed sincerely. Then, plucking up his nerve he gazed into the purple depths of the vortex.

' _Well, Fenton… it's a spinning vortex of purple that will transport you to some unknown location. What could possibly go wrong?'_ Danny looked sideways at Clockwork. "Don't suppose this thing has any good in-flight movies?"

Clockwork's flat expression didn't budge.

"All right, I'm going. _Fine._ " Danny grit his teeth. "No need to get all excited." Slowly, he shifted forward until his bare toes hung over the point where the pallid stone turned to simmering energy.

' _Why am I going along with this? Because he said he'd save Vlad?'_ Danny's head tilted and he regarded Vlad lying on the couch. _'Am I really that desperate?'_ He wasn't sure he was.

Abruptly, he tsked at himself, lips curling into a snarl.

' _Ah, to hell with it.'_

He stepped forward.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

He'd half-expected that the portal would drop him off some twenty or forty feet above the ground, plunging him to his demise, but it was not to be. Danny appeared in a forested area, his toes mere inches above the ground, and he touched down lightly.

The sense of danger hit him like a smack in the face and his head snapped around, eyes squinting. It was too dark to see, but hard earned instinct moved his body for him.

He twisted on one foot and spun to the side.

There was a hiss of air and something sharp cut by his temple.

That move cost him as the pain that spiked from his stomach drove him to his knees with a cry. Then, a knife buried itself into his shoulder and it was too much. He swooned, closing his eyes and collapsing on his side.

Voices were exchanging words around him, but to Danny they were incomprehensible. The world was spinning, even behind his closed eyelids he could feel everything spinning and it made him nauseous. Heaving uncontrollably, he managed to roll over and push his body up on one teetering elbow while the other clutched at his damaged midsection.

His throat burned and he hacked pitifully, but he hadn't eaten that entire day and the only thing that came up was acid and blood.

When the fit passed, Danny was left utterly spent. His arms shook and he simply crumpled, lying in the grass, eyes half-lidded and dazed.

Why was the night so dark? He wondered absently. Usually he could see just fine in… oh…

No more ghost powers.

The voices had gotten louder and suddenly Danny could understand.

"Good job, Monkey, you killed a civilian."

"How do you know he's a civilian, Weasel? He just appeared out of nothing, he could be—"

"Just look at him, he's foreigner. What's more… Hawk!"

"What?"

"Check his Chakra coils."

There was a moment of silence. Then—

"That—that cannot be! He…"

"What?"

"He has no Chakra. That shouldn't be possible. But I can't see anything, unless he's blocking my ability?"

"Then he can block mine as well."

"Weasel? You mean—"

"Hey, guys, he's moving."

Danny was shifting, trying to open his eyes and focus through the fuzziness. He struggled to see his would-be killers.

Two figures stood over him and one crouched. Each of them was clothed completely in black and they wore masks on their faces. Danny frowned at the masks uncomprehendingly.

"Hey, hey you, what's your name?" One asked.

Danny stared at him for a long time as he processed the question.

"No good, he's in shock. Should we take him back?" The second said.

"I don't know, Weasel, I—" The third started, but Danny wasn't interested in him, he had just noticed something striking and rather surprising about the second figure.

"You…" He whispered and the three figures before him froze. "You… have a ghost on you." Danny informed Weasel.

"W-What?" Somehow, in spite of the masks, Weasel managed to convey confusion. But Danny's attention was caught by the dimly glowing, pearly figure hovering over Weasel's shoulder. At the word 'ghost' the spirit's head rose sharply and a jolt of shock ran through Danny as he saw that the ghost had no eyes.

"You… can _see_ me?" The ghost asked in barely restrained hope. Danny gave a bleary dip of his head.

"By the toenails of the Second!" The ghost swore in a way that made no sense to Danny. "I don't know how you're doing this, but please, tell him for me… Tell him I'm sorry I couldn't look after him better… I wish things could have turned out differently. He has to understand that I never intended for Danzo… for _them_ to use me against him like this. I… tell him I trust him and will always watch over him but he needs to understand this path he's taking… it's only going to hurt people! Tell him… tell him…"

Danny, being in absolutely no way capable of following, let alone conveying, such a long message in his injured state, could only stare uncomprehendingly at the frantic apparition.

"What are you babbling about? I do not have a ghost." Weasel gripped irritably.

"My name!" The ghost insisted. "Tell him my name! I'm—"

"— _Shisui._ " Danny murmured.

That got an immediate reaction. Weasel visibly stiffened.

"What are you talking about?" Weasel demanded, leaning close to Danny, taking hold of the shoulder which wasn't bleeding everywhere and gripping it tight. "How do you know that name? Who told you that name?"

But Danny had reached his limit. The shadows had consumed his vision and he sagged against Weasel as his eyes fluttered closed. The last thing he remembered was being lifted bodily into the air.

"Come," Weasel told the others. "We're taking him back to Konohagakure."

* * *

 **:o:**

 **END PART I**

 **To be continued in PART II – ITACHI**

 **:o:**


	2. PART II - ITACHI

Hello again!

Thank you to everyone for the positive response so far; I hope you continue to enjoy the story!

Without further ado…

* * *

 **:o:**

 **Ectoplasm and Chakra**

 _When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth was far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply_ ordinary _in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel._

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: _Sholay_

 **:o:**

* * *

 **:o:**

 **PART II - ITACHI**

 **:o:**

* * *

The first time Danny swum groggily to near consciousness, he could feel the anxious energy of the people bustling around him.

"How is this possible?"

"He is resisting all treatments. I don't know what else to do."

"Treat him without the healing chakra."

"But—"

"There's nothing else to do. If we leave these wounds, he'll bleed out and die."

He heard no more.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"…"

"…Still unconsi…"

"…wake soon…"

"Yes… how… find us..."

Danny became aware of sound. At first, the words were only garbled noises in his head. Slowly, like a camera-lens struggling to focus, his mind started to make sense of what he was hearing.

"…No sign of his attackers?"

"None, Hokage… Should be awake and coherent soon… well enough to travel in a couple of weeks..."

The voices were blurry, distorted. It felt like there was cotton in his ears—like wearing headphones on a plane—it kept him from being able to identify how many people were talking.

"I'm impressed, indeed. The healers have done an extraordinary job."

"Especially without using chakra. His resistance is unnatural. Perhaps it is a side-effect of his condition…"

Danny's eyes were closed. He felt oddly numb and couldn't quite muster the energy to move his limbs. The fog in his brain prevented him from worrying about this detail. He swallowed then took a deep breath.

The voices above him continued speaking.

"We do not need this… added complication. Especially not now."

"You suggest that we simply turn him out."

"Yes. He is not a child. He is perfectly capable of taking care of himself."

Were these people talking about him?

"He is also a foreigner. He may be in need of help and without money or knowledge of our language he will not survive an encounter with a less friendly village. Just look at those injuries he has. Our Jonins did not do this."

"Yes. _Look_ at his injuries. What caused them? Who? Why? No ordinary civilian would be trekking through the forest with injuries like that. You think it was a coincidence that he happened on Konohagakure? He could be a spy."

"And he may not be. For now, let him rest. I will reserve judgement on him until I have spoken with him personally."

The voices receded and Danny surrendered to his weakness, falling back into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Danny's eyes squinted open. They felt puffy and sticky with too much sleep and he grimaced at the sensation. It was dark, but his eyes still ached with disuse. Sniffling, he attempted to bring up a hand to wipe at his face, but felt a cold vice grip his heart when his hand refused to move.

There was something hard and thick encircling his wrist. Arcing his head up, he was able to see the leather restraints locking his arms to the bed. A failed attempt to lift his feet proved that his legs were similarly held down.

Instinct had him reaching frantically within himself—seeking that heart of ice, a familiar race of power—but his body remained stubbornly solid. Solidly restrained.

' _It's gone! Gone. Gone, gone, gone. The ghost is gone. I can get better now, right?'_

Instead of comfort, all that thought brought him in that moment was chilling fear. A security he'd relied upon for the better part of a year was now ruthlessly stripped from him.

Danny fought the rising panic, but couldn't stop himself from straining and wriggling against his bonds. The claustrophobic sensation that always gripped him in these situations was made worse by the fact that he had no clue where he was. He _hated_ being restrained. _Hated_ it. It made him feel vulnerable and helpless. The last time he'd been similarly retrained against his will his mother had threatened to cut him open with a laser.

Abruptly, Danny stilled.

His _mother_ …

"Is everything okay in—oh! You're awake!" A black-haired girl who looked to be around sixteen, hardly a year or two older than Danny, peered around a doorframe. She was clothed in a simple white uniform with a white cap on her head. She pushed the door fully open—a _sliding paper door_ , Danny did a double take at that one—and stepped fully into the room. "Hello! It's good to see you awake!" The girl chirped, and gave a tiny bow. "How are you feeling?"

For a while, Danny just stared at the girl. It sounded like she was speaking English, but her mouth—

"Oh! You don't understand what I'm saying, do you?" The girl raised a hand to her lips. "Okay, just a moment. I'll go call Madame Shizune."

The girl—Danny assumed she was some sort of nurse—began to turn away and Danny's hand jerked in its restrains. He hissed at the aborted attempt to raise his hand. He settled for stopping her verbally. "No, wait. I understand you." Danny's voice was a bare whisper as it rasped in his throat from disuse. He felt desperately thirsty. His exclamation worked though and the girl let out a gasp of surprise before turning back to him.

Danny swallowed, trying to ease the dryness in his throat before speaking again. "Um… You don't have to call anyone." He really didn't want to deal with an interrogation five minutes after waking up. "It's pretty late, yeah? Might as well wait until tomorrow."

He gave his best attempt at a smile, but it felt strange and weak on his face. Like he'd forgotten which muscles to constrict. Nevertheless, the girl seemed to relax, sending him a little smile back.

"Awesome." He breathed. "Now… um… I don't suppose you could let me out of these?" He looked at his restraints hopefully but was disappointed as the girl gave him a nervous but apologetic shake of the head. Licking his lips he tried again. "I'm just… really thirsty…"

"I'm sorry." She said, clasping her hands. "But we're not supposed to…"

"Alright," He conceded with a sigh. He hadn't really expected her to let him out, but he'd hoped… "Well, could you help me sit up a bit? It's kinda uncomfortable lying flat like this." Being confined to lying on his back with only the ceiling in his immediate vision was extremely paranoia-inducing. If he were going to be restrained he would at least like to see his feet.

The girl agreed and helped him adjust the bed. When Danny could comfortably see both his toes and the room around him, he nodded, thanking her.

"Oh! You wanted water!" The girl remembered and exited the room at a quick clip. A few minutes later she returned holding a full glass. Danny eyed the glass of water and subconsciously sucked on his chapped lips. His hands jolted with the desire to hold the glass even as she brought it closer.

"Hh..." He sucked in a breath through clenched teeth, drawing back his head with discomfort as the nurse raised the glass to his lips.

"I'm sorry…" The nurse said again. "But I can't let you out of the restraints." She hesitated and looked at him, waiting for his approval.

"Don't you have straws?" Danny asked.

The woman looked at his quizzically and didn't reply.

Not fully understanding why his question went unanswered, Danny's thirst nevertheless won out. He took in an uncomfortable breath then nodded stiffly.

Taking that as consent, the nurse raised the glass to his dry lips.

The nurse poured the water down his throat a little too fast, a few drops escaped down the corners of his mouth and Danny's fingers twitched as though to control a glass they weren't holding. It was embarrassing and uncomfortable but he was too parched to care. The water was divine.

Danny drank until the glass was empty. He felt a touch nauseous and somewhat dizzy. Still, he managed a quiet 'Thank you', to which the nurse smiled and offered a tiny inclination of her head.

For a couple of minutes the girl lingered in silence but, as it became clear that neither of them had anything more to say, she gave a quick bow and exited the room, leaving him alone.

Anxious and unwilling to sleep, he took his mind off his immobility by looking around the room. There were multiple standard-issue hospital beds lining both walls of the room. But there were no privacy curtains and the whole setup didn't seem entirely… sterile. He wasn't sure what it was, but there was something off about this place. He wanted to call it a hospital, but it really seemed too… rustic? The walls were wood paneled and there were no lights in the room that he could see. Looking to his side, he noticed the lack of any drip attached to his arm. No one had changed him out of his jeans, although his shirt was missing. Thick bandages encircled his torso.

It was more like a sick bay, or a school infirmary… certainly not a 'hospital'.

Eventually, he leaned his head back and tried to sleep. It was difficult: the moon was bright outside and there was nothing covering the naked window. Nevertheless, his eyes were closing and his breathing was evening out in a light doze when a sudden wash of cold air made him shiver. He exhaled, teeth briefly chattering, and blinked his eyes open.

"Why did it have to be a hospital? Why is it _always_ a hospital? Why is it never a modelling agency?"

"Well, personally I was thinking of it more as a 'sick bay' than a hospital… but I guess that doesn't help much, does it?" Danny answered wryly.

The ghost, who had been standing with his back to Danny, swivelled around and stared at Danny with wide eyes.

"Danny!"

"Hey, Tuck." Danny smiled softly.

"Oh man, dude…" Tucker wafted closer and looked over Danny's body, eyes getting stuck first on the gauze taped to his shoulder and then again on the heavy wrappings around his stomach. "You look terrible."

"So everyone keeps telling me." Danny answered blandly.

"Are those restraints?!" Tucker's voice rose as he saw the leather straps pinning Danny to the bed. "Why are you restrained?! It's not the GiW is it?! They didn't find out—"

"No, it isn't… They didn't. At least, I don't think they did. Not that it would matter anymore anyway." Danny added thoughtfully.

"Why don't you just phase out of them dude?" Tucker wanted to know.

"Tuck… How are you?" Danny asked, gracelessly changing the subject.

"How am _I?_ How are _you?_ "

"But you're the one who's… who's…" Danny choked, still incapable of voicing the word. "How are you so indifferent about it?"

"Dude… why do you think it took me so long to show up? It took me a while to accept that I'm dead." Danny winced at the word, but Tucker was oddly calm. "I've come to terms with it."

" _How_?!" Danny blurted and grimaced when his only answer from Tucker was a silent shrug. "Tucker... you... you're a ghost."

"Actually... 'bout that, I don't think I am. A ghost, that is… at least not a normal one. I mean, I don't have any of the powers you do, except flight. And I can't touch you." To prove this point Tucker drifted forward and tossed a hand through Danny's head.

Danny flinched backward as Tucker went to slap him and tried to raise his hands in defence. But the bed prevented him from recoiling and his hands were held fast by the restraints. Tucker's hand flew through his head effortlessly, but Danny was still irritated by his helplessness. He _hated_ restraints.

"Anyway, I just really wanted to check in on you." Tucker admitted.

"How did you find me?"

"I dunno." Tucker shrugged unhelpfully. A few moments of silence passed. Danny had settled back and looked quite content to simply bask in his friend's unexpected presence. But Tucker was fidgeting in the unfamiliar silence.

"So…" Tucker began and Danny raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

"You… seem different." Tucker said at length. "Quieter."

Danny sighed. "Comes from living at Vlad's, I guess. That man's house is as empty as one of Casper's band recitals."

"VLAD'S!?" Tucker exclaimed, shocked. "You're living at Vlad's?!"

"Was… I was…" Danny answered quietly. "Everyone else was gone, remember?"

Tucker looked distressed and worried. "But… but it's Vlad's! We hate Vlad! He's manipulative and deceitful and creepy and he wants you to be his evil apprentice-son thing!"

Danny allowed Tucker to finish his tirade. He wanted to clasp his hands together, or to fold his legs underneath him, but the restraints halted both movements in their infancy. Instead he had to settle with fixing a serious look on his friend.

"Tucker, listen… there's something I have to tell you. While I was at Vlad's I… I did something. I—"

"Hello?" The door slid open and Danny's head snapped to the side as the same nurse from earlier stuck her head into the room. "Are you okay in here? I thought I heard your voice."

"I… I… Okay, this isn't what it looks like." _'I'm not sitting in bed chatting with a ghost.'_

"It's okay." The nurse gave him a surprisingly understanding smile. "Sometimes I talk to myself too when I need to get all my thoughts in order."

"Yeah, so it's not really a ghost, I…" Her words abruptly caught up to him. "Wait. What?" he looked back to where Tucker had been floating and saw only air.

"Uh…" He stalled.

"All right. If you need anything then I'll be outside. Just yell and I'll hear you." The nurse bade him goodnight and then left.

Danny lay there in the dark, breathing softly and blinking all too human eyes. Each second ticking by seemed to tighten the cinch around his heart painfully. He realized that he was holding his breath, waiting for Tucker to come back. But as seconds turned to minutes, his hope dwindled.

Vindictively, he cursed the nurse and his teeth ground together as his head lowered, fingernails pressing painful semicircles into his palms as he squeezed his eyes shut.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"Good news!" A lady who'd introduced herself as Shizune told him the next day. Unlike the uncertain nurse from last night, Shizune held herself with confidence and authority as she looked down at Danny. She looked to be in her early to mid-twenties. "You're well enough to leave the hospital!"

So they _did_ call it a hospital, Danny noted. Go figure.

"Really?" He asked, looking down at his still heavily bandaged torso.

"Well, it will take some time before the injuries completely go away. You were very, very hurt."

Studiously, he ignored the curious look Shizune was giving him. Instead, he focused on the raw scars lining his hands. Those must have come from the broken glass in Vlad's lab, he realized. If his hands had healed this much, then he must have been unconscious for quite a few days.

Especially since his aching midsection told him he likely no longer had his preternatural healing abilities.

Abruptly, one man wearing a heavily padded vest and a metal-plated bandanna came over and undid Danny's restraints. The teen rubbed his red wrists, grateful that his body was once again his own to control.

"What now?" He wanted to know. A white t-shirt was tossed at his head and he snatched it out of the air, raising an eyebrow at the woman who'd thrown it.

"First, put that on." Shizune told him. "It's new—your last one didn't make it, I'm afraid. Then you'll need to fill out one of these forms and after that we'll accompany you to see the council."

"The council?" He questioned as he finished tugging on the shirt—quietly marvelling at the relatively minimal protests from his stomach and shoulder— and was handed a pad and pencil.

"Yes, they need to conduct a hearing to decide what to do with you. It isn't often that a little white ghost arrives in the village." Shizune told him and Danny's head snapped up as a frission of shock made his heart tremble.

"A _what?_ " What had she just called him?

"White ghost." She repeated, then seeing Danny's look of alarmed bewilderment, she explained. "It's what we call foreigners with white skin."

"Your term for that is _white ghost?_ Seriously?" He snorted bitterly at the irony. Shizune offered him a grin and he returned it with a wan smile.

"I suppose it is a strange word." She admitted with a shrug.

It occurred to Danny that there was a misplaced singular in Shizune's response but he dismissed the thought as unimportant. "So… a 'hearing'?" He asked her, pulling the conversation back on track.

"I'm sure you'll be fine. You seem like a nice boy, Danny." There was no mockery in her voice as she smiled kindly at him.

"Ah… Th-thanks. Yeah… Heh…" He felt an old embarrassment heat his cheeks as he ducked his head at the compliment. Well, some things would never change, he figured. He would always be a complete idiot in front of pretty women. Shizune didn't look like that old, but she seemed to hold a position of status in the hospital, and she was the first person in a long time who hadn't seemed fake when smiling at him.

Shizune was nice, Danny decided. He dropped his gaze to the form in his hands and then a knot was forming in his stomach for a whole new reason.

"This… I…" He stared at the paper. It was filled with vertical lines of illegible chicken scratch.

"Is something wrong?" Shizune's face turned concerned.

"This… is all in…" His eyes fell on one particular symbol, a simple layering of lines. It looked familiar. Where had he seen this before?

A memory flashed in his mind of a time when Sam had briefly been into Asian cartoons and comics. She had tried her hand at learning the language but abandoned it when she realized the trend was quickly becoming mainstream.

"This is all in Japanese, isn't it?"

"Yes." Shizune said deliberately. "That's what we're speaking, after all."

Danny looked up at her, thunderstruck. He was speaking _Japanese?!_ How?! When?! What he heard when he spoke was only English and that was what he heard from Shizune as well… How could he be speaking a whole different language without realizing it?

"Oh…" Understanding sparked in Shizune's gaze and she looked at him with some pity. "You can't read, can you?"

"I…" He glanced down at the unintelligible writing and shook his head. "No… I can't read it."

Shizune was patient and didn't condescend him as she leaned over took the form from him. As she read out the questions, and as she transcribed the information Danny gave her, he slowly realized what had happened.

Clockwork had given him the ability to speak Japanese with that symbol tattooed on the back of his neck. He had almost forgotten about that part of his bizarre meeting with the ghostly Master of Time. So he could speak the language but he couldn't read it.

Well. That was inconvenient.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

 _Later that day…_

Danny opened the door of his new apartment. Clutched in his hands were a set of keys to the room and a few bills of money—effectively all his current earthly possessions save the clothes on his back.

Someone had vouched for him. The meeting with the village's council had been a near disaster. Poorly described as an 'official objective inquiry' by the old men seated behind a table on a raised platform—literally and figuratively looking down on Danny who was left to fidget uncomfortably on his feet—the meeting had essentially consisted of Danny being read a litany of reasons for why he shouldn't be allowed to stay in the village. One man in particular, with black hair and bandages covering half his face, seemed especially keen on being rid of him. The council had been one suspicious finger twitch away from tossing him out on his ear when the guy in charge—they called him 'Hokage' and Danny supposed he was something like a very well-respected Mayor—came in and politely told them to stuff it.

Apparently, one of the people from the team who'd found him, a person named 'Uchiha Itachi' had vouched for Danny. He wasn't sure what this meant, especially since he had no idea who 'Uchiha Itachi' was. But the council had seemed impressed.

In surprisingly short order, Danny had been released on his own recognisance with stiff orders to stay out of trouble— _because so help him if he even sneezed on a poor old lady—_ and not leave the village until they saw fit to re-evaluate his position. Next thing he knew, he was standing outside the building gazing on the village— _Konohagakure,_ what a mouthful that was _—_ that was apparently his new home.

He didn't know how long he'd been standing there, staring blankly at the air in front of his eyes, when the Hokage came up him.

"You've been through something terrible, haven't you, child?" The old man had said in a surprisingly kind voice.

A sharp retort had rested on the tip of Danny's tongue but when he'd turned he was struck silent by the sincere empathy in the man's eyes.

Without preamble, the Hokage had told him he'd arranged for Danny to receive a small monthly stipend, for just long enough to get him on his feet, and that there was an apartment available which he could rent.

"You're not going to ask how I got hurt? Or how I came here?" Danny couldn't help but ask.

The Hokage favoured him with a knowing look. "I have already decided to give you a chance at a new life, child. Asking you about your past would only detract from that, don't you think?"

Then, as he stammered out a quiet 'thanks', the man pressed a set of keys and a few bills into his hands and ambled away.

So, really, Danny supposed, there were two people who'd vouched for him. Uchiha Itachi and the Hokage.

It bothered him to owe so much to two strangers. He didn't even know what this Uchiha looked like, which meant he couldn't thank him. Or her.

Deciding to lay that problem aside for a more pressing one, Danny cast his eyes around his empty apartment and sighed. The place was completely unfurnished and he didn't know the first thing about furniture shopping. Who allowed a fourteen-year-old to live on their own anyway? Apparently the age of maturity came early in this village.

He wondered mildly if he'd be allowed to drink. Or get his licence.

It was getting late and Danny eyed the wooden panelling of the floor. It didn't look too hard or dirty. He'd seen someone selling blankets outside so if he bought a couple and lay on them he should be fine for the night, right?

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

The next morning, Danny was suffering. His back was stiff with enough pain that he couldn't immediately sit up. He twisted, then groaned as his hips and even his knees ached from continuous contact with the wood floor.

Hard lesson learned, he resolved to immediately set out and find a mattress.

Right after he managed to realign his spine.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

It was sheer luck that he found someone willing to sell him a mattress:not even a shopkeeper but some random family who heard him inquiring on the streets and approached him offering to sell a spare they had at a discount.

"A-ah… Thank you… Really. B-but are you sure?" Danny stammered as he awkwardly trailed after the couple as they lead him to their home. Some voice in his head was warning him that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going and that he was putting his safety in these people's hands... that he didn't have ghost powers anymore and _what if they turned out to be crazy axe-murderers_?! Despite these warnings—which, oddly, took on Jazz's voice in his head—his feet kept following the couple.

"Of course we're sure! Our son just got a new bed and this mattress was just lying around. We were going to keep it for when our daughter grows out of her bed, but that won't be for another couple of years anyway. She's only eight. Almost nine, now, but still..." The woman, Mrs. Haruno, as she'd introduced herself, said cheerfully and her husband hummed in agreement.

"Oh, but, if you need it—" Danny started.

"Hush, child!" Mrs. Haruno chided him. "You need it more than we do and we are more than happy to give it to you. We can buy another one anytime but you need this one tonight. Although… perhaps it is a bit used. You might want a new one. Honey, do you think Iko's still has mattresses? I saw one there a while back and it was pretty reasonably priced… oh, but I'm not sure if they'll be open. He knows you though so he might not mind. We could take Danny there now…"

"Ah… No, no… That's okay." Danny raised his hands, anxious and uncertain of how to deal with these people's overwhelming desire to help him. People in Amity Park were not at all this… generous. These people were actually making him feel bad for protesting. And for thinking they might be serial killers.

"We're here!" Mrs. Haruno said as they stopped in front of a five-storey apartment building with chipping paint and cracked stairs. "Come on up!"

The door was stiff and swung to hit him in the back as he stepped into a dim, unlit hallway. The stairs were cement and cracked and there were dark stains on the walls. The only light in the stairwell came from thin slits cut into the walls above their heads but the Harunos climbed without care. Danny, instinctively turned his head to look for an elevator. Not finding one, and also noticing the distinct lack of electric lighting, his eyebrows rose to his hairline.

It was an odd thing to live in a place where electricity wasn't taken for granted.

Odder still was the bizarre emotion churning at the pit of his stomach. Painful, but also something else... It was similar to the feeling he'd get when he ran across a new ghost, or explored new areas of the Ghost Zone...

' _C'mon, Danny!'_ Sam's voice, sharp and impatient and all too vivid, echoed in his mind. _'Where's your sense of adventure?'_

"You coming, Danny?" Mr. Haruno called from one landing up and Danny shook his head hard, as though he could physically scatter his thoughts.

"Coming!" He called as his eyes focused in on the present.

After months of inactivity, even a short flight of stairs caused his legs to burn and his breath to strain his lungs.

That was good. It kept him from feeling other things.

Five flights up, the couple stopped outside a door and produced a heavy metal key that they fitted into the lock.

"Mommy! Daddy!" As soon as the door opened, the couple were tackled by a tiny child with startling pink hair.

"Sakura!" Mr. Haruno bent and hoisted the little girl up, before swinging her around. The girl laughed happily, but grew quiet once she spotted Danny.

"Sakura, this is Danny." Mr. Haruno said as he put Sakura down. "He's a friend Mommy and I made today."

"...Hi." She greeted quietly.

Big green eyes blinked up at him and Danny couldn't help but smile at the child.

Sakura didn't smile, just blinked up at him with an expression that was adorably severe.

Gripped by a sudden urge, Danny dug a hand into his pocket. He still had some change leftover from his ill-advised blanket shopping.

He wanted to make the kid smile.

"Hello, Sakura. You've got very nice hair." He smiled at her and crouched down so they were eye to eye.

Sakura tugged on a strand self-consciously.

"Now, I think the pink is a awesome, but what's this doing in there?" Palming a coin, her reached around behind the girl's ear and pretended to draw the coin out from her hair.

"Look! You have money in your hair!" He put on an expression of amazement as held up the coin.

Sakura looked delighted as he showed her the coin. Danny felt a smile growing on his face in response to hers.

"For the lovely lady." He said, rising from his crouch. Tucking one hand behind his back, he offered her the coin with a flourish and a bow.

Sakura giggled and Danny felt small fingers pluck the coin from his hand.

"I can keep it?" She asked him.

He looked up "Yup!" He found himself grinning at the little girl and then beaming brighter when she giggled and ducked behind her father shyly.

"He has pretty eyes." She murmured to her father in a voice quiet enough that Danny almost wondered how he'd heard it.

"Danny's going to be staying for dinner, aren't you?" Mrs. Haruno said suddenly.

He gaped and stared at them, wondering when dinner had come into the picture. Mrs. Haruno winked.

"Would you like that, Sakura?" Mr. Haruno asked the little girl.

Sakura nodded and it was the most effective trap anyone could've laid—Danny couldn't say no to that tiny pink-haired, green-eyed girl.

Danny hung back, listening to the family chat casually as they got comfortable and began preparing the table for dinner. His offer to help was firmly dismissed by Mrs. Haruno who directed him to a low table and told him to sit. Not expecting the table to be so close to the ground, Danny hesitated for a long moment before noticing the cushions arranged around the table. Awkwardly, he lowered himself onto a cushion and sat with his legs folded beneath the table. Sakura seemed to have quickly warmed up to him as she scampered to the seat next to him and kneeled on the cushion gracefully before grinning up at him happily.

Danny smiled back at the child, but couldn't help fidgeting self-consciously as Mr. and Mrs. Haruno organized dinner in front of him.

Eventually, the food was set. Danny observed and carefully closely copied the elder Harunos as they took their food. He gathered the chopsticks in one hand and did his best to not look completely inept.

"So Danny, how long have you been in the village?" Mr. Haruno asked conversationally.

"Um… 'bout a week or so." Danny guessed, not wanted to go into the details of the time he'd spent unconscious in the hospital. That evasiveness became pointless, however, with Mrs. Haruno's next comment.

"Yes, I heard about you from Shizune." She said. "You were found by a Jon—a patrol team? And you met with the council yesterday."

"The council?" Her husband's eyebrows rose and he looked at Danny. "And how did that go?"

Responding to the mild irony he sensed in the man's tone, the teen offered a dry smile. "I don't think they liked me very much. Especially… there was one man with bandages on his face…"

"Ah Danzo." The man smiled knowingly. "He is quite forceful, that man."

 _Danzo_ … Danny had managed to manoeuvre a piece of meat into his mouth and he chewed the food thoughtfully as he tried to remember the last time he'd heard that name. He was distracted by the sudden curling pain in his stomach as his body was shocked by the food. Suddenly ravenously hungry, Danny felt his hand shake and had to clamp down on the urge to simply tilt the bowl and swallow the rest of his meal.

How long had it been since he'd last had a full meal?

' _Gotta get in your five courses of meat, Danny!'_ Tucker's voice scolded him in his head and Danny's hand clenched around his chopsticks. _'Being a carnivore gives you heightened senses and makes you devilishly handsome. Trust me, I know!'_

Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Haruno were still talking.

"Danzo is only acting in the best interest of the village." Mrs. Haruno defended quietly.

"That is true. But come, Danny, they must've liked something about you. Otherwise they wouldn't have allowed you to stay." Mr. Haruno looked at Danny as he said this.

Blinking away the stinging in his eyes Danny forced himself to focus on Mr. Haruno's words. "Actually…" Danny spoke hesitantly, wondering if he should be saying this. "It was the Hokage that stood up for me."

"The Hokage?" Mrs. Haruno repeated and both adults looked at him in surprise. "You must be special, then, for the Hokage himself to step in."

"Ah… I dunno…" The teen ducked his head, regretting having said anything.

"So you think you'll stay in Konoha?" Mr. Haruno asked.

"Maybe." Danny answered, tilting his head. _Konoha…_ was that what they called the village for short? "For now, yes."

"How are you going to be living on your own?" Mr. Haruno inquired. "Are you planning on getting a job?"

Danny blinked, swallowing the food in his mouth thickly and then stalled by taking a drink of water. Oddly, the thought of getting a job made a lump rise in his throat. Something in his chest gave a panicky flutter. A job? He'd never had a job before… could he even hold a job—he couldn't even sit through a whole day of school.

…But then again, that had been back when he'd… when he'd been… Well… He didn't have that particular issue anymore…

But _could_ he get a job? He wasn't even really good at anything. Except ghost-hunting…

…Then again… that had been _then_. He didn't have _that_ part of him anymore.

"U-um… yeah… yeah. I-I guess…" He stammered.

"You're not sure?" Mr. Haruno sounded surprised.

What about school? Danny wondered. He didn't even have a high school degree… He had nothing. Shouldn't he be in a foster home or something? Or was this simply how this village worked? Was he supposed to get a job and forget about school?

Danny shook his head. "I don't… don't really know what I'm going to do." He avoided the couple's eyes in favour of studying his food.

Just then, Sakura's head rose. "I'm going to be a ninja!" She piped up happily.

Danny let out a short polite sound of amusement, feeling the pressure on him immediately lifting at the typically outlandish comment from the child. But when the others at the table remained quiet, his small smile faded as he looked up.

"Sakura, dear, now's not the time to be bringing that up." Mrs. Haruno chided her daughter and Danny's curiosity was mildly peaked at the hint of steel he saw in the woman's eyes. But she blinked and looked at Danny and it was gone. "Oh! You're not used to the chopsticks are you? I'm sure we have something else…"

Danny tried to protest, but Mrs. Haruno had already left the table to bustle in the kitchen.

Next to him, Sakura giggled and showed him the chopsticks in her hand. "You hold them like this!"

Danny was feeling too self-conscious to humour the child but luckily enough Mrs. Haruno came back with a shallow spoon and a knife.

"I'm sorry, we don't have many foreign utensils but this—"

"This is fine. It's good. G-great. Thank you." Danny stammered and felt heat rise in his face as he took the utensils. He wished for a fork but was grateful for this much – a knife and a spoon would allow him to finish the meal at the very least.

Focusing in on his food, Danny let the conversation resume around him. Silently, he took note of how quickly the topic of jobs had been dropped.

After changing in utensils, dinner was actually quite satisfying Danny. It was a welcome feeling to eat something filling and warm.

However, playing the polite guest was slowly becoming an exercise in tediousness.

It seemed that Mrs. Haruno had one eye constantly trained on him. Every hesitation brought questions of whether the food was okay, whether he wanted more, something different, something to drink…

It made Danny simultaneously irritated and homesick. What Mrs. Haruno was doing, most people would consider to be mothering. But Danny's mother had never been the most attentive woman—not like this. He felt pained as a part of him yearned for his mother's behaviour while another part felt awkward for not knowing how to react to what Mrs. Haruno was giving.

Overall, it was wholly unpleasant and Danny was itching for everything to be over so he could leave. The desire for the quiet seclusion of his apartment was strong. The feeling was simultaneously sour because he knew that going back to his apartment meant he'd be alone again—with nothing to stave off the memories and guilt.

"Where do you live?" Mr. Haruno said once everyone had finished their food and the plates had finally been cleared away. "I'll help you carry the mattress back."

Danny, knowing only his address but having no clue how to get to his apartment on his own, had no choice but to accept the man's offer. He didn't know which direction to head in, let alone how he'd walk the distance carrying a mattress. The helplessness chafed.

As he was getting ready to leave: putting on the shoes he'd left near the door—yet another new custom to get used to—he was stopped by Sakura who came up to him holding a white flower.

"For you." She said quietly.

Danny felt something, a dull ache, in his chest and forced a smile that was a little sad. "Thank you." He took the flower.

"I really am going to be a ninja." Sakura confided, looking straight up at him. "No one believes I'll be able to do it, but I will!"

Danny, if nothing else, admired the girl's conviction and the way her eyes seemed to dare him to doubt her. People had doubted him too…

Maybe they'd been right about him. But that didn't mean he'd do the same thing to this little girl.

"It's good to have a goal." He told her. "And remember that it's _your_ goal, not anyone else's. So you shouldn't let anyone stop you from working toward it." The happy smile she gave him went straight to his heart. She drew close and shyly held out her arms for a hug.

"Come back again." Were her parting words as he gently let her go.

When the folding futon mattress was resting on the floor of Danny's apartment, Mr. Haruno looked around the bare place critically. Danny also surveyed the room, feeling like the emptiness was rising up and around him as a gaping, insurmountable monster.

"Here, I brought some sheets and a pillow as well." Mr. Haruno suddenly spoke and Danny turned in surprise to see the man holding bedding in his arms. The teen had no idea where the man had pulled it from – certainly he hadn't seen Mr. Haruno carrying a pillow on the way over.

"Oh, uh… but I don't think I can pay for…"

"Don't worry. They're extras." Mr. Haruno held out the bedding but Danny shook his head, already feeling too indebted to accept more generosity.

"N-no… I…"

" _Take_ it." Mr. Haruno insisted and stepped forward to press the bedding into Danny's hands. "And remember to fold the mattress up in the morning, or it'll catch mold." Danny blinked and, perhaps in response to his hesitant expression, Mr. Haruno's eyes softened. "We truly don't mind you taking this. But if you are so stubborn you can return them once you buy your own–Sakura will be happy to see you again. She rarely takes to someone so quickly."

"Ah…" Danny looked down, unsure what to say.

Eventually though, the words did come.

"Thank you."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

It took a few weeks for Danny to gather his wits enough to remember the second person who had vouched for him. He didn't go inquiring after him or her, always feeling too weary or too uncertain. It did bother him vaguely though—the thought that there was a stranger out there to whom he owed a debt and that he had no idea who that person was.

Uchiha Itachi actually came to him first. Or rather, his name did.

Standing near the merchant stalls on the dirt streets two older women were gossiping.

"Did you hear?"

"About that one—?"

"Yes, the Uchiha boy."

"Itachi."

"Yes, Fugaku has been in such a tiff over that boy."

"The chief of police? He wants his sons to go join the police, doesn't he?"

"Of course! They _all_ have to. You know… the _Uchiha_. But Itachi is a strange one… always has been."

"He's ANBU now, isn't he? Youngest yet."

"Yes, but who knows if he's a prodigy or just a freak of nature."

"Excuse me." Danny chose that moment to interrupt. That word, ' _freak'_ , never failed to make his jaw clench and he felt the need to intervene, if only to fulfil some perceived sense of kinship.

' _We freaks should stick together. Drives the normal people crazy. Then they become the freaks and guess who's normal?'_ Sam had said that to him once. Recalling that made his heart ache.

The two women quietened and stared at him with distrustful eyes as he neared.

"I heard you talking about Uchiha Itachi … Do you know where I can find him?" Danny asked. Over the past few weeks he'd spent in Konoha, Danny had figured out that people tended to state the surname first. That meant that _Itachi_ was the first name of the person he was looking for. And _Itachi_ was apparently male.

"You know, boy, isn't not polite to eaves—" One woman started.

Her friend scoffed and leaned toward her friend to murmur in a low voice. "Don't bother. He's _white_."

Danny took offence to that but didn't care enough to let it show. After all, back home his parents had called Danny _Phantom_ worse things.

' _Not undeservedly…'_

"You know the Uchiha compound? You must. It practically _is_ Southeastern Konoha." The second woman continued, looking down at Danny disdainfully. "The area with the houses that are walled off. Yes? You know it? Good. Go to the biggest, most central house. That's where the main family lives." Then the women turned away, clearing dismissing him.

Danny didn't ask any more questions. He didn't need to. He knew where to go as he turned and began navigating his way through the narrow streets. He'd walked that way just yesterday for laundry day.

Ah, yes. Laundry day.

Yet another unpleasant surprise among so many. Since he owned only a couple of outfits, he ran out of clean clothes quickly and his first laundry day had been a shock. Some impatient bystander had pointed him rather brusquely toward a clump of trees and Danny had discovered the laundry pool.

The laundry pool! Where people actually sat down and scrubbed and pounded their shirts against stones in an attempt to beat the stains senseless.

Danny had returned from that experience with buffed knuckles, an ache in his back and a newfound appreciation for washing machines.

At this point he was just grateful that they had at least a basic amount of electricity in this strangely backward village. He didn't think he'd be able to handle lighting candles and oil lanterns after 8pm.

' _No plugs!'_ Tucker's voice wailed in his head. Danny could picture his friend hugging his PDA. _'How'm I supposed to charge Rosalina?'_

Danny straightened his clothes—a simple blank white t-shirt and his usual jeans. The hospital had long disposed of his favourite t-shirt, but his jeans had survived… Which was fortunate, as Danny didn't at all favour the ankle-length pants all the men of Konoha seemed to sport.

As he walked toward the Southeastern corner of Konoha, the smell and sounds of cooking hawker food wafted to his nose. It occurred to him that, though he was hungry, the smell didn't entice him even a bit. He was craving fried chicken and coke, which wasn't good. Iced drinks were an expensive rarity here and these people's version of 'fried chicken' also happened to be soggy with sweet-n'-spicy sauce.

The street ended at a high wall. He bit down on his lip, resolutely pushing away both his hunger and his craving. He traced the wall, searching for a break that eventually came in the form of a large ornate gateway: framed by pillars and an arch with an enormous set of wooden doors that were currently held wide open.

Beyond the doors was the most affluent neighbourhood Danny had yet to see in Konoha. Posh, well-maintained houses lined a street that curved away to either side. It didn't take long for him to locate the central house: in perfect alignment with the entrance, it intimidated anyone standing at the gateway. The opulent bungalow sat deep into the compound, circumferenced by a sprawling, leafy garden that sparkled here and there from the reflections of still ponds.

And Danny wondered—they called this the 'Uchiha' compound. Did only one family live in this whole neighbourhood?

As he entered between the pillars and walked the long pathway forward, he saw people standing near their houses: women sweeping leaf-strewn porches, children halting in their play to stare, men smoking. He felt their eyes tracking him openly even as he too watched them out of the corner of his eye. They were all dark-haired and dark eyed—not very unusual. But still, there was something odd about this place that stroked the sixth-sense he'd picked up while ghost hunting. Like sharp nails ghosting over skin, it made the hair on the back his neck rise. He began to wonder if coming to this place had been a mistake.

He was already approaching the main house though, and, unexpectedly, his pride refused to let him be cowed by the many eyes watching. So he straightened his spine and called upon a courage once only associated with his ghost-half as he stepped up onto the porch.

As he approached the door it slid open before he could even raise a hand to knock.

"Good morning." A man in a simple black servant's uniform answered the door. "Please state your business."

"Um… I'm here to see… I-…Uchiha Itachi." Danny stammered, remembering at the last moment to say the family name first.

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No…"

The servant, with a single, slanting look, seemed to convey the severe depth of Danny's impropriety and the teen nearly flushed. What was the problem? Had he made a mistake? Were people not allowed to make house calls in this village?

"You may enter." The servant stepped aside to permit Danny entry. He stepped across the threshold and stood uneasily on polished, dustless wood. 'You may enter' felt a far cry from 'You're welcome to enter'.

"I will call Mr. Uchiha." The servant said—and Danny had a strong, foreboding impression that the 'Mr.' referred to Fugaku Uchiha, Itachi's father, and not Itachi.

Was that what it was? Was it impolite to inquire after the son and not the father?

"Will you have tea while you wait?"

"Oh…" Danny was taken aback by the request and stared at the man for a moment. "Uh… uhm, no. No, thanks."

Another look. Another mistake. Then, with a highly dismissive air, the servant left the room.

Danny let out a breath of stifled pressure, wondering to himself why such a big deal was made out of the littlest things. Making appointments… Asking for the patriarch of the family… Accepting tea when offered… What was the point of all this? Why the complex, stubborn attachment to meaningless gestures of formality?

"Is it true?"

Danny nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden voice behind him. His breath caught and he swivelled around. An tall youth was standing at the other end of the room, leaning against an ornate cabinet.

But it wasn't his eyes that Danny was focusing on. The youth's voice was sparking memories in his head.

' _I'm sorry I couldn't look after him better… Tell him… Tell him… I trust him.'_

' _What are you babbling about?'_

' _Weasel!'_

"You were there that night… Weasel." Danny said and the teen stiffened, frown deepening. "You're Itachi." He surmised with some amazement.

 _Now_ it made sense!

"I am. What are you doing in my house?"

"I… wanted to meet you. I wanted—" Danny cut off abruptly as Itachi strode forward and aggressively leaned in to his personal space.

A small part of him wanted to stumble backward, but a larger part—the part that had faced down innumerable ghostly enemies and Pariah Dark and _won_ —refused to be intimidated so easily.

Reminding himself that he _wasn't part ghost anymore, dammit!,_ he compromised by standing his ground and frowning up at the teen towering over him.

Up close, Itachi looked younger than Danny had expected. In fact, Danny wagered they were about the same age—the main difference being that Itachi was tall and Danny was cursed with shortness.

"Is it _true?_ " Itachi hissed.

"Is _what_ true?"

"What you said about the ghost—is it true?"

So that's what was bothering him so much. Danny finally allowed himself to lean back, satisfied that, despite his bluster, Itachi did not have the upper hand here. He smirked. "His name isn't the only thing Shisui told me." He said pointedly.

Itachi's expression darkened. Danny sensed danger and mentally rebuked himself back down to calmness. He wasn't here to cause conflict.

"I can tell you—"

"Not _here_ , you halfwit." Itachi interrupted harshly, sending a look down the hall behind Danny. "There is a monument in Northeast Konoha. An obelisk standing alone in a field. Meet me there in one half hour. I am sure you won't be tied up here."

"Your father is going to kick me out, isn't he?" He guessed and Itachi just looked at him blandly.

"I should've taken the tea." Danny grumbled.

There was something like amusement in Itachi's dark eyes. "I don't think that would've helped you much. Father disapproves of foreigners in general. Uncultured or not."

"If that was supposed to make me feel better—" The sound of a door opening behind him had Danny turning. The servant re-entered the room and behind him came a tall, dark-haired man with very foreboding eyes.

"Master," The servant bowed. "I present Fenton Danny."

Danny swallowed as the man's eyes pierced through him, he didn't even have time to wonder how the servant knew his name—he definitely didn't remember introducing himself—before the man spoke.

"What business do you have with the Uchiha, Mister Fenton?" The Uchiha patriarch's voice was deep and seemed to carry the weight and presence of many people. It was unsettling, and Danny was momentarily flustered, feeling his cheeks redden as he tried to remember and put into words what exactly he was doing in the man's house.

"I-I'm here to see… to speak with Ita—Uchiha Itachi. Your son." Danny clarified at the end and then felt stupid for doing so—of course Fugaku would know whom Danny was talking about. He turned to look back at where Itachi had been standing but was surprised to see no sign of the youth.

Feeling oddly abandoned, Danny looked back at Fugaku. Was this how other people felt when he turned invisible? Danny wondered. He didn't have much time to ponder this thought as Fugaku continued speaking.

"Then I am afraid you have wasted a trip. My son is training and will not be back for many hours. He is busy and does not have the time to employ in idle engagements." Fugaku considered Danny for a moment then continued. "If that is all, I have matters which require my pressing attention. Good day, Mister Fenton." Without even the slightest bow, Fugaku turned and left the room, taking Danny's remaining breath with him.

"You may exit this way." The servant was already holding open the door, and Danny could have sworn he'd heard a smirk in the man's tone.

Before Danny left, he felt the presence of someone else in the room and turned his gaze back. Beyond the foyer, at the far end of a long hallway, big dark eyes framed by a head of messy black hair peered at him shyly around a threshold. Danny smiled at what must have been a young boy of only eight or nine years. Upon realizing he'd been spotted, the eyes widened then abruptly vanished around the corner.

Danny left the house then, pondering the brief but intense visit.

 _Training?_ Really? Training at _what?_ Unless Itachi was training to master his skills at sneaking around his house, Fugaku clearly had no idea what his son was up to. That, or he was blatantly lying to Danny… Which was probably very likely, come to think of it.

He spared a moment to remember the child with the big eyes, thinking to himself that it couldn't be easy growing up with such a daunting father.

Then again, Jack Fenton had been daunting too, just in different ways.

As memories of his Father flooded his mind, Danny felt a smirk pulling at the corner of his lips. As quickly as the humour came, it left, and Danny felt the darkness cloud in on his mind.

Shaking his head roughly, Danny forced himself to think of other things as he walked out of the Uchiha compound. He was going to meet Itachi in half an hour. Itachi was probably going to want to know everything Shisui had told Danny. But the memory was a little foggy. It had been a while and Danny had been pretty out of it at the time…

Danny frowned then as he suddenly remembered where else he'd heard Danzo's name.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Following Itachi's directions, Danny found the obelisk without trouble—it was a pretty large monument in a pretty open field—and leaned closer to read the inscription.

' _We shall not forget – Those upon whose strength we draw and upon whose shoulders we may stand tall.'_ Following that was a list of names.

A memorial stone. Danny felt a stinging lump rise in his throat as he realized for the first time that he would never be able to visit the graves of his family or friends again. His eyes skimmed down the list, then stopped at a surname he found familiar.

"Uchiha Obito."

"There was a war."

Danny inhaled sharply and spun around at the sudden voice behind him. Itachi was standing there, a few feet away, slouching and eying the stone lazily.

Somewhere behind Danny a crow cawed persistently in the far away trees.

"What?" Danny asked.

"Those people. They died in a war."

"Oh…" Danny didn't really know what to say to that. He let a respectful moment of silence pass, then quirked an eyebrow at the other boy. "You know, you don't have to keep sneaking up on me like that."

"I was not sneaking." Itachi said plainly and took a few steps closer.

"…Okay…" Danny drawled slowly, disbelievingly. He was pretty good at sensing people approaching him. He knew that. And he hadn't felt Itachi coming at all. No one was _that_ naturally silent—but why would Itachi bother lying about something as random as that? "So, you want to know what Shisui said, right?"

"First," Itachi was looking at Danny with sharp eyes. "Tell me if you see him here right now."

Danny shook his head.

"Fine. Tell me then. What did he say?"

Danny repeated, as best as he could recall, what Shisui had told him. At the mention of Danzo's name, a nearly imperceptible frown crossed Itachi's face for a moment before it was erased. At the end of Danny's short recitation, he quietened and a long silence fell.

"I see." Itachi said at length. "And that is all?"

"Yes."

At some point, Itachi had drawn a small blade from one of his pouches. It was an odd, stunted thing: triangular and dark. Danny found his attention drawn to it as Itachi used the point to pick at the dirt under his nails.

"Fine. I admit that a large part of me thinks you're lying." Itachi said, voice quiet and even.

"I'm not!" Danny insisted.

"But why?" Itachi continued as though Danny hadn't spoken. "And for what purpose? And the fact that you know that name… You said you see ghosts, boy. How?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno. I just do. For me it's more of a question why you people _don't_ see them." And that was true enough – he did wonder why no one else had seen the ghost.

Itachi was again quiet for a spell, the only sound in the field coming from the incessant cries of the crow in the trees.

"Fine." Itachi repeated. He stopped playing with the knife. "I don't think I need to tell you that this information should stay between the two of us."

"What information? That I see ghosts or that I saw Shisui and what he told me?" Danny asked cheekily.

"Whether you want to make the entire village question your sanity by claiming you see ghosts is irrelevant to me. But you will tell _no one_ about Shisui. You will tell _no one_ that you even know that name. Do you understand, boy?"

Itachi's eyes had taken on a sudden steely quality and his tone had turned threatening. Danny's mind was sharply reminding him that he was not a half-ghost. He was _not a half-ghost anymore_ and therefore his bravado was empty hot air because he had nearly failed PE and was _absolutely useless in a fistfight._

The very atmosphere seemed to blacken around Itachi and Danny's eyes widened.

"Understand this," Itachi continued in that low, deadly serious voice. "The war might be over but if you cross me you will discover first hand how well Konoha continues to train its soldiers." And with quick, deft movements, Itachi flicked up the blade in his hand and threw.

Danny did not flinch, did not even close his eyes as the blade passed a mere hairsbreadth from his temple.

There came a loud squawk and then the crow was silent.

He couldn't help it—his head was twisting even before he realized he was taking his eyes off Itachi—he stared at the far away line of trees but no matter how hard he squinted he couldn't spot the dead crow. He didn't even think he could toss a stone far enough to hit the closest tree.

Swivelling back around he saw that Itachi had turned and was calmly walking away, hands deep in his pockets. Apparently the youth had taken Danny's shock and silence as an agreement to keep silent.

"Hey!" He called out, "Itachi!"

The Uchiha stopped and Danny briefly wondered if he should be ducking to avoid any more thrown projectiles. But no, Itachi just turned and raised an eyebrow.

"I know this is kinda awkward, what with you just threatening my life and all—" He grinned. He couldn't help it. Being sarcastic in the face of danger made him _giddy_. "But I never got to tell you the proper reason why I came to your house." He took a breath and continued. "I wanted to say thanks. You know, for vouching for me? If you hadn't, they wouldn't have let me stay in Konoha. So yeah… Thanks." He ended off feeling a little silly, but still smiling.

Itachi was looking at him with something very closely resembling an actual expression. Bafflement would probably be close, Danny thought with entertainment. Danny's adrenaline was up, his interest was up, and for the first time in a long time he felt _excitement._

"Careful," Danny quipped. "Your mask is cracking."

Instantly, Itachi's face returned to its normal neutrality, though his eyes were no longer steely.

"You're thanking me for vouching for you?" Itachi confirmed. "Let's see if that gratitude sticks. Konoha has a lot of secrets, kid. Be careful you don't become one of them."

This time, when Itachi walked away, Danny didn't stop him.

"A threat _and_ advice, all in the same meeting? Wow, dude, you sure know how to make lasting friendships." Danny mumbled and shook his head before shoving his hands into his pockets turning to head back into town.

He was still craving that unattainable can of Coca-Cola. He wondered mildly whether, if he screamed loudly enough, Clockwork might oblige him.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

It was base necessity and not motivation that eventually drove him into a daily routine. Had he a choice, he would have easily regressed to the lethargic hermitage he'd lived in at Vlad's. But base desire for comfort and food outweighed the distress of his heart and mind.

' _I got rid of the monster, Mom, Dad. I cut it out of me. Shouldn't that make me… better?'_

It started innocently enough. Danny hung around the hospital because his bandages needed changing. Then, when he'd healed well enough for them to be removed completely, he hung around because it was the one familiar place that he knew and understood in this new, bizarre village that was so drastically different from his own home.

Living on his own, Danny realized, was _difficult_. There was paperwork and bills and fees and all sorts of things that he had no idea how to deal with. The apartment the Hokage had given him was still unfurnished—Danny slept on a mattress on the floor and there was a meagre stack of clothes in his closet. There used to be more, but some blond kid had purposefully collided with him while he'd been walking home with an armful of laundry. The kid had made off with a few shirts and even a pair of pants without Danny ever seeing his face.

Even grocery shopping had to be relearned. Danny was proud to say that even before arriving in Konoha he could wield a skillet well enough to feed himself. But he couldn't cook if he didn't have any food to cook.

Back home his mother had sometimes taken him grocery shopping. But back home there was a grocery store. Here, everything was sold in open-air markets. Stalls and stalls lined both sides of the aptly named 'Market Street'. Some displayed roasted birds hanging from their necks, cloudy eyes open and staring; others had water tanks; still others boasted heaps of dried vegetables and fruits, half of which he could not even name, let alone assess for ripeness.

Much of what he saw were things he'd never seen offered before—one stall was selling skewered _scorpions and crickets_ for Godssake! Who _ate_ that?! And no matter how many people tried to tell him it was the most delicious thing they'd ever tasted, he was _not_ going to try one of those smelly durian fruits.

Needless to say, he had been surviving on take-out for the past month.

Tired of the way his head spun as it tried to sort out all this new information—culture shock was real: he'd never make fun of people whining on reality shows about non-western toilets ever again—he had sought out something familiar. He didn't want to stay holed up in his apartment because it meant being left alone with his own destructive thoughts.

So he found himself at the hospital.

Sick people were universal. Everybody got sick and though the illnesses and treatments differed, there was a similarity. People could speak differently, they could think differently, but everyone cried out when struck and everyone bled when cut.

At first he'd only dropped by to thank the nurses and doctors who'd looked after him. Shizune, in particular, was always nice to talk to. She was quiet, didn't say much, and that suited him just fine. When she did speak though, it was always with a frank sincerity that he enjoyed. He had found out quickly that she was frequently out of the village on this-or-that business—people were oddly vague when he inquired about her comings and goings—but whenever she _was_ there he made an effort to drop in and say hi. She always smiled when she saw him coming.

Eventually, he'd made enough visits and hung around the hospital enough that they'd handed him an apron and put him to use.

Mostly, he'd kept busy cleaning floors and making beds. But then, a couple of weeks later, Danny found himself facing his first emergency.

They were short-staffed and there were too many people to help. Eventually Danny had approached the nurses, intent on helping however he could.

"Let me do _something._ Please! I can help!" He pleaded with a harried nurse who was examining a moaning patient.

"Fine. Fine." The nurse relented. "Hold his shoulder. Put pressure on the wound. There." The nurse instructed Danny, who he placed his palms flat on a wound that was steadily oozing blood.

There were a worryingly large number of hurt people in Konoha. A staggering proliferation of people came in with cuts and stab wounds that bled furiously. Danny wasn't allowed to stay in the room with the more seriously injured patients, but still, the severity of what was considered a _minor_ wound was shocking.

Honestly, the pale, shuddering man beneath his hands looked like he was about enter shock and everyone was too busy to tend to him!

Realizing there was no one in the room with him, Danny made a split-second decision. Taking his hands off the wound, and muttering a quick apology when the man groaned, Danny reached up and unzipped the man's heavily padded vest.

A lot of people in Konoha wore the same padded vest. It looked sort of like a camouflage uniform and was one of the reasons why he thought the village might have some sort of militia. He remembered Itachi's warning about the soldiers of Konoha. Maybe they weren't at war, but there definitely seemed to be some sort of fighting ongoing.

He pulled the vest open and then, using a scalpel he grabbed off the table, he cut and peeled the man's sweat-dampened, bloody shirt from the wound.

Danny eyed the wound with a critical eye. It wasn't that bad, now that he looked at it. He wasn't put off by the blood. He'd seen worse on himself, after all. It was a long, clean slash—something else he had often seen on himself, particularly after fights with Skulker. It wasn't serious, but it was considerably long and the skin was split wide enough for the wound to gape. Without stitches, or preternatural healing, it would scar uncomfortably.

Danny blinked then stuck his head outside the door and eyed a rolling table overflowing with medical equipment.

The tricky part would be stitching the wound up. He knew well how to clean and bandage a wound. But he didn't know much about anaesthesia—or stitching people up, for that matter. He was pretty good at mending clothing though and it couldn't be too much different from that, could it?

It would probably hurt though…

Just then, the man looked down at his own wound, paled and gave one full-body shudder before falling still. Danny raised an eyebrow, then checked the man's pulse and eyes.

Unconscious. All right. That worked too.

Danny had finished stitching the wound and was washing his hands in a nearby basin when he heard a commotion from near the entrance of the hospital. No one had come to check on the man yet but, as far as Danny could tell, he would be fine. Weak from blood loss, but still fine. So the teen slipped out of the room and went to see what was going on near the reception.

He walked face first into what looked like the aftermath of a warzone.

Men, women and even children were crying and huddling over terrible injuries. The waiting seats were all filled so people slumped against walls and those who could not stand sat and shivered. Danny saw a couple of people who were prone and unmoving.

The hospital staff dashed back and forth, putting people on beds, easing the injured, trying to manage the crowd, but there were simply too many injured people.

Danny didn't hesitate before diving in. He helped where he could—lifting people into stretchers and helping them up and down the halls, cleaning wounds— he even found himself talking with a few of the patients, trying to keep them calm.

It wasn't long before the front of his apron was streaked with blood.

"It'll be fine. You'll be fine." He mumbled to one man, who was grimacing and looked like he was about to be sick. Danny frowned, he'd already stripped the man to the waist but aside from a dark bruise on the chest he couldn't see anything that could be causing the man distress.

"Can you tell me your name?" Danny asked.

The man looked at him and Danny could see the question registering and a response forming. But as the man opened his mouth to answer, his chest and stomach contracted and his face contorted as a wet cough was torn from his mouth.

As the man kept hacking, Danny hurried to lift the man's upper body, trying to prevent him from choking on his own blood. Danny's eyes widened as foamy pink blood formed at the corners of the man's mouth.

He'd seen blood like that before. Once, during a particularly vicious fight with Vlad, the man had nailed him with a merciless uppercut in the gut that had lifted Danny right into the air. But the hit had been a little high. Danny had felt something crack in his chest and extreme pain had followed.

Rushing to the door, Danny poked his head passed the sliding frame and looked around. Spotting a woman he recognized as one of the healers, he jogged over and flagged her down.

"Hey!" He called.

The woman gave him a harried look. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes, can you look at the man in this room?"

He led the woman over to the room, but she barely looked at the man before sending Danny a frown. "He has not been marked as urgent. I realize you must be one of our newer volunteers, but you must understand that it is not appropriate to waste the time of the staff during an emergency." She lectured.

"This _is_ an emergency!" Danny insisted. "He has a punctured lung!"

The woman gave him a double take before casting her eyes back on the patient. There was a pregnant pause while the woman simply stared at the patient and Danny fidgeted, wondering what was happening. Abruptly, her entire countenance changed.

"Go find Shizune!" She ordered Danny.

"Was I right? Is it—?"

"Go!"

Danny nodded and did as ordered. When he came back, Shizune in tow, someone had shifted the man to an operating table and brought in a set of instruments. Shizune slipped a facemask around her ears.

"Thank you for bringing me." Shizune said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He knew what was going to happen and gave her a pleading look. "Can't I—?"

"No." Her eyes were kind, but her hand was firm as she guided him out of the room. "You know the deal. You can't stay and watch. Go help the others."

He knew he looked contrite.

"You did good, Danny. Now leave the rest to us. I'll keep you informed on the patient." And with that, she closed the door on him.

Many hours later, he was sitting alone in the empty waiting lobby of the hospital. Finally, the commotion had died down. Most of the injured had left or were in the rooms being treated.

Danny was exhausted, both mentally and physically. Never before had he seen so many injured people. It was unnerving, especially since Konoha seemed like such a small, remote place. What were all these people doing that they got hurt so badly? And not just men, but women and children too.

Another thing that baffled Danny was the bizarre hospital procedures. Multiple times he'd tried to stay in a room as the doctors treated the more grievously injured patients. Every time he was ushered out the moment someone recognized him.

Why were they being so secretive? Unless they had something to hide, it didn't make any sense.

But then…Danny _did_ feel that they were hiding something. There was something very _odd_ about the way the hospital healed people. Sometimes… sometimes it seemed quick. _Too quick_. There was a woman who'd come in bleeding from a gash behind her knee. Danny was certain he'd seen her leave not half an hour later, walking out as though she'd never been hurt. She hadn't even limped, and Danny didn't care how high her pain threshold was, a wound like that would definitely have made her limp. He _knew_.

If he didn't know better he'd have said they were using some supernatural means to heal patients. But that was just ridiculous… wasn't it?

After hours on hours of caring for the injured, the number of patients slowly diminished to a trickle. Stripping off bloody gloves and a bloody apron, Danny collapsed with relief into one of the waiting chairs in the reception area.

Danny had wedged himself into a relatively comfortable position, sitting sideways in one of the seats with his side against the plastic back and legs pulled up with his knees to his chest. He found himself quite unwilling to move and let his head list to the side, eyelids closing on their own.

Someone was shaking his shoulder and Danny recoiled away from the touch, hands instinctively raising defensively, as he looked up with wide eyes.

Shizune blinked back at him, gazing at him in mild concern. Behind her stood none other than the Hokage himself.

Danny inhaled in surprise and straightened. He made to stand.

"Sit, young one. You don't need to stand on my behalf. Besides, I hear you've had a trying day." The Hokage gave a low chuckle at his confusion.

"Iruka is going to be fine, Danny." Shizune let him know.

"Who?"

"The man you helped. The one with the punctured lung."

"Oh," Danny relaxed. "That's good."

"Shizune tells me you've been an invaluable help today, working tirelessly with the hospital staff." The Hokage intoned.

"I…" His hand gravitated up to card through his hair and he looked away nervously. "I just did what I could."

"I also heard that you were able to spot and correct one of the errors of the staff—"

"It wasn't that. They were really busy and I just happened to recognize one of the symptoms." Danny interrupted thoughtlessly.

Both the Hokage and Shizune gave him interested looks and Danny, averting his eyes, didn't elaborate.

"Nevertheless, it was thanks in large part to you that Iruka is safe and well. Without you, his injuries may have been much more severe. You were also responsible for stitching up a patient earlier on?"

"How did you know about that?" Danny asked quizzically and only received an enigmatic smile in response. Had his stiches been that bad that they'd noticed?

"In light of these things, Shizune has come to me with an interesting request and, after speaking with you I can't help but grant it. Shizune?"

The woman grinned and turned to Danny, clasping her hands before her.

"Danny, how would you like a job at the hospital?"

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

He came in for his first day of work dressed crisply in a new shirt and pants. He stood fidgeting nervously in the doorway and wondered, yet again, _why_ all the men in this village considered ankle-length pants to be the height of vogue.

"Yes, can I help you?" The woman at the desk looked at him politely. She was new—not one of the staff members he'd previously met.

He shuffled, toeing his uncovered ankles for the hundredth time as though it would lengthen his pants. "I… uh… I-I'm here about the… the job? Shizune said—"

"Oh! You must be Danny!" The attendant suddenly smiled. "Of course! I should have recognized you!"

His eyebrows rose questioningly.

"Shizune said to be on the look-out for a foreigner with pretty blue eyes. But dressed like that, I thought you might be one of the new genin trainees."

The compliment had Danny ducking his head, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck, but his gaze came back up at that odd word. "Genin? What's that?" It wasn't often he came across a word he didn't understand.

"Oh!" The woman put a hand to her mouth, looking oddly chagrined. The friendly smile fell away. "I-I didn't realize… Ah… Let me… Let me call Shizune for you…" She'd hardly finished speaking and she was up out of her seat and striding out of the room.

Danny stared after her, a bemused frown creasing his brow.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Danny's first week of work passed in a parade of stupid mistakes and embarrassing slip-ups. Everyone assured him that it was normal and that he'd fall into the routine in time, but it didn't prevent him from feeling like an idiot and a failure.

Added to that was his near constant state of mental exhaustion. After months of isolation at Vlad's, being forced back into social interaction was… stressful, to say the least.

He hadn't exactly been the most social person in High School. He had Jazz and Sam and Tucker—and Valerie, on occasion—and that was all he'd really needed. Keeping track of all the people at the hospital and making an effort to be polite and friendly and _happy_ was absolutely, teeth-grindingly, exhausting.

Still, he hadn't always been this reclusive. It was a bit disturbing to realize how much he'd changed in less than half a year.

Unlocking the door to his apartment, Danny tossed his bag toward the mattress that he kept forgetting to fold up in the mornings. He really needed to go shopping for some furniture: maybe even a wooden bedframe—Mr. Haruno's threat of mold wafting into his mind like a bad premonition.

The bag fell short of the bed and hit the floor with a loud, heavy thunk that had him wincing. The thing was filled with hardback books on anatomy and medicine. They were all in English, which was something of a miracle in and of itself. At first, Shizune had tried to find books with lots of pictures but it was an exercise in futility because without understanding the explanations, the pictures simply made no sense.

On his second day, he'd remarked offhandedly how much easier it would be if the books were in English and Shizune had instantly lit up. Two days later she had dropped an armful of medical texts on him, all in English.

When he'd asked her where she'd found the books she had simply smiled and apologized—it was a secret.

He guessed it had something to do with whatever she was up to during those many days she was absent from the hospital. He didn't press her, instead thanking her graciously for the books before he planted himself at a desk and willingly cracked open the first textbook he'd ever touched for non-school purposes.

That was something else that had changed, he supposed: his willingness to study. It was different than school. He had studied for school so he wouldn't fail and so his parents wouldn't get upset at him. Now he studied so he wouldn't look like a fool and get fired from the only job he'd ever held.

In one day he had somehow managed to fill multiple pages with messy, handwritten notes that now jutted, wrinkled and dog-eared, between the pages of his books. ' _Jazz's notes had never looked like that.'_ Half his mind scolded, while the second half reminded him that Jazz had had exercise books and highlighters and binders and tabs and sticky notes and all sorts of other random doodads and thingamajigs that she'd conned their mother into buying during the annual back-to-school sales.

At the very least, he had found a shoulder bag that was doing a bang-up job of holding all his stuff. It was a leather satchel—something Sam would've chewed him out for buying, though it'd honestly been the only thing he could find at the time—with thick, hard straps that either bit into his shoulder or blistered his hands. He'd complained, once, about the stiff bag to someone at work and she'd laughed before gathering up his hands and commenting on how soft they were.

Danny had snatched his hands back, grumbled something indignant and never mentioned the bag again. So ghost hunting hadn't given him the toughest, coarsest palms. So what? With they way they did laundry here it wouldn't take long for his hands to turn to leather anyway.

Standing alone in his empty little studio, Danny felt the familiar dark lethargy slowly sinking its claws into him and he viciously shook the feeling off.

Turning briskly on his heel, he headed right back out his door. The reading could wait. He needed to find dinner anyhow.

Heading down the hall toward the staircase, the sound of a commotion caught his attention. Turning a corner, he came upon a strange sight. A middle-aged woman, reedy and dour was wearing a pinched, strained expression as she stood in the hallway with one hand on her waist and the other firmly cinching the ear of a young child. The child was blond and looked to be around seven years old and there was an animal of some sort of his shoulder.

He recognized the woman. Ms. Okada was his landlady and wasn't all that bad as long as you paid your rent on time, abided by all her rules, never rose your voice above a whisper, weren't the subject of any gossip, and avoided talking to her whenever she was in a bad mood—which, Danny knew, was almost all the time—and, basically, weren't remarkable or unusual in any way.

Danny, by virtue of being one of, if not _the only,_ foreigner living in Konoha was by rote one of the woman's least favourite people in the building.

He was working on it though. Unlike high-school, where being disliked only got him chased around school and tossed into lockers, and unlike Danny Phantom, who could disappear and hide from ghost hunters and fangirls alike, if the landlady here didn't like him she could evict him and put him on the streets. So Danny put on his best smile whenever he saw her and did his best to be charming, to largely mixed results.

As far as he knew, Ms. Okada didn't have any children, which raised the question of who exactly this blond kid was.

Although… the overlarge T-shirt the kid was wearing looked familiar…

"If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times, Naruto! If you're late on the rent, I'll toss you out on your rear."

"But I _had_ it!" The child was protesting, squirming and wincing from the landlady's hold on his ear. "But it was—"

"I don't want to hear any excuses Naruto! It's always one thing or the other with you! And Mr. Hitzen was complaining about frogs in his bed. Do I even need to ask?"

The guilty grin on Naruto's face spoke for itself. The landlady's eyes lit with fire.

"That's it! I've had it with you! I'm going to—!" And Danny had heard enough.

"Ah, excuse me!" He walked briskly over to the pair and the landlady eyed him disapprovingly for the interruption.

"Mr. Fenton." Ms. Okada said snippily. Her chin tilted up and her eyes gained the vague, aloof look that Danny saw on many different faces in Konoha. In his head, he had begun referring to that expression as the 'oh-it's-that-foreigner-again' look. "As you can see, I'm in the middle of something and I would appreciate it if you did not interrupt."

"Oh, of course." He gave her his best winning smile and was rewarded when she relaxed, if only minutely. "It's just, Naruto here loaned me a bit of money earlier on in the week and I came to pay him back."

" _He_ loaned you money?" The landlady's grip had shifted from Naruto's ear to his shoulder. She looked at the child dubiously. Naruto, for his part, was staring openly at Danny.

"Yep." He nodded with an innocent expression, putting to work every skill he'd gained from lying to his parents for a year about his ghost powers. "I was in a bit of a jam and Naruto was kind enough to help me out."

"Naruto… _kind?_ " The woman raised both eyebrows and Danny was actually a little insulted on the boy's behalf. Honestly, she was acting like the kid was incapable of doing any good.

"So I came over to repay the loan but in light of the situation I figure it might be easier just to pay you." Danny continued his narrative. "So how much does he owe you for rent?"

Ms. Okada hardly hesitated before naming her figure. Money was money after all, no matter from whom it came. And Danny nearly swallowed his tongue at the number. Paying off this kid's debt would take nearly all of his first week's salary.

Danny's eye twitched, but didn't let his smile waver as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the roll of bills Shizune had handed him just that afternoon. The smile stayed on his face as he simply handed the landlady the entire roll. He watched her count it and huff to herself as she realized the money would cover what Naruto owed.

When she reached the end of the small fistful of money, she reluctantly shaved off a single bill to hand back to him.

"Keep it." Danny offered. "As an advance on his next month, since you'll be letting him stay…?" Danny wondered where the kid's parents were. Surely the seven-year-old wasn't living on his own?

The woman didn't look pleased and she sent Naruto a swarthy look.

"C'mon. He promises he won't put frogs in Mr. Hitzen's bed anymore, right?" Danny coaxed and then looked at Naruto pointedly.

The boy, whose mouth was hanging open in disbelief, nevertheless managed to quickly catch on and nod vigorously. "Uh huh, I'll never put frogs in his bed again. Promise!"

Danny could clearly see the kid drawing up loopholes in his brain. But the landlady seemed to buy the insincere promise.

"Fine." Ms. Okada huffed. "But if I hear one more complaint about you…" She wagged her finger under Naruto's nose before turning to Danny. "I will be holding you responsible for him, Mr. Fenton, since you seem so intent on advocating for him. And here, it is not my policy to take advances." She looked appalled at herself as she handed Danny the small change. The landlady then turned and walked down the hall with at a sharp clip. Only once she was firmly out of sight did Danny let his false grin drop.

"Whew." He sighed. "Thought she'd never leave. You okay there, kid?" He asked, sending Naruto a crooked smile.

Naruto was staring at him with wonder. "That was SO awesome! Who _are_ you?"

The boy turned to face him fully and Danny blinked in surprised as he got his first clear look at the animal on Naruto's shoulder. It was a baby fox, a tiny thing, curled up with its snout near Naruto's neck. What Danny thought was only one tail was actually many tails fanning down Naruto's shoulder and back.

"Ummmm… Hello?" Naruto was waving a hand over his head and Danny blinked.

"Oh…oh yeah. Me? I'm Danny." He introduced himself.

"And I'm Naruto!" The kid shoved a thumb at himself. "And you are _so_ cool for paying off my debt!"

Danny smiled, pulling his eyes away from the sleeping fox for now. "It's no problem. I have a talent when it comes to stubborn landladies and I make it my mission to help out little six-year-olds in danger of getting their ears yanked off whenever I can."

"Hey! I'm eight!" Naruto cried in offence.

"Really?" Danny was honestly surprised. The kid looked too scrawny to be eight. "By the way, where are your parents?"

He was taken aback when Naruto's entire face screwed up in displeasure. The boy huffed and crossed his arms, turning away. Realizing he'd somehow struck a nerve, Danny backpedalled.

"Hey, it's okay. Look," He held up the single bill the landlady had returned to him—also the only money he had left, period. "Wanna go get some food?"

It was like a switch had been flipped and Naruto lit up brighter than a Christmas tree.

"FOOD? YES! Now you are OFFICIALLY the coolest! Let's go get dinner, dattebayo!" Naruto cried joyously and in the time it took Danny to blink the kid had already raced down the hall and proceeded to thump down the stairs in a way that was guaranteed to offend the landlady.

Wondering why Clockwork's charm hadn't translated Naruto's last word, Danny shook his head before chasing after Naruto. There was an odd feeling in his chest as he descended the staircase—like a new page had been turned in his life.

Naruto was going to bring him havoc. He just knew it.

* * *

 **:o:**

 **END PART II**

 **To be continued in PART III – KAKASHI**

 **:o:**


	3. PART III - KAKASHI

I'm back!

This one's going to be fun. Let me know what you think; I'd love to hear from you!

 **Anonymous reviewer(s):** Thank you for reviewing! I try to respond to all reviews by private message but I'm sorry, without an account, I can't respond to anonymous reviews. I just wanted to let you know though that I read and appreciate all your reviews. They never fail to make my day!

* * *

 **:o:**

 **Ectoplasm and Chakra**

 _When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth was far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply_ ordinary _in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel._

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: _Sholay_

 **:o:**

* * *

 **:o:**

 **PART III – KAKASHI**

 **:o:**

* * *

It hadn't actually been a plan of his, but one morning on Danny's way to work his feet simply took him passed the hospital and toward the field with the memorial stone. Perhaps Danny was drawn there because it had been the last place he'd seen Itachi. Or maybe it was just whimsy. A dull ache in his chest however, seemed to hint at a deeper motive.

Whatever the reason, he found himself wanting to gaze on the stone and read again the list of fallen soldiers.

He was still a fair distance away when he became aware that there was someone else standing in front of the memorial. From this distance he could make out that the person was a man, tall with spiky grey hair.

Realizing that he may be intruding, Danny halted his steps then backed away.

It was hardly conscious movement. One moment he was stepping backward, the next his eyes sharpened and a gasp escaped him. The instinctual reaction to realized danger had him leaping sideways. He was mid-air when his brain caught up and decided to complicate matters. The result was him tripping awkwardly over his own feet as he landed and ending up in a heap on the grass.

The sting in his cheek was the only clue that his instincts had apparently just saved his life.

"You should trust those reflexes of yours more, instead of questioning them." A voice called from across the field. It came from the stranger standing near the memorial stone. "You might have landed on you feet, otherwise."

Danny was still gaping dumbly, seated firmly on the ground, hands fisted in the dirt. His head snapped back and forth as he looked at the man, then back behind himself. "What the—! What—what—was that a _knife?_ What the—!"

In the moment between when he glanced behind him and back forward, the stranger was suddenly and inexplicably right in front of him. Let out a yip of shock, Danny scrambled backward and twisted on his hands, flipping to his feet with more fluidity than he usually showed. Wavering on his feet he got his first good look at the stranger. He was somewhat alarmed by the black mask that covered the bottom half of the man's face and the bandanna crossing over one eye. The eye he could see was regarding him lazily and was all the more disturbing because the man had nearly _killed_ him and didn't even look bothered about it.

"Y-you… you just tried to _kill me?!_ " Danny was a little upset by the way his voice sounded more shrill and scared than angry.

The man's head listed to one side, the expression in his eye vague. "Relax. If I'd intended to kill you, you'd be dead."

That comment did not in any way relax Danny. He backed away, raising his hands defensively though he had no idea what he'd do if the man decided to attack him again. He was reaching—reaching within himself… But the cold monster was gone. He had cut it out. He had cut out his only strength and now he was just _weak_.

' _Gone! It's gone and Mom and Dad would be happy because it's gone and I'm better now!'_

"My name is Hatake Kakashi and you are Fenton Danny, the foreigner and the Hokage's little side-project."

Struck by sudden exasperation, Danny straightened, eyes turning skyward as he huffed. "Do I really stick out _that_ much? Honestly, I'm tan enough and I have black hair—which doesn't at all stick out as much as blond, pink or _grey_." He sent a pointedly critical eye over the man's wild, scarecrow hairstyle.

Kakashi's single visible eye seemed to tighten and the teen wondered if he should start running to dodge more thrown weaponry.

"It's not your appearance that marks you as a foreigner." Kakashi said ambiguously.

"Right. And I'll bet you're not going to expand on that wonderfully vague sentence, are you?"

Silence fell during which Danny purposefully maintained a low glare on the man.

Kakashi let out a sigh. "You're still upset about the kunai, aren't you?"

Danny reasoned that that must be the name of the blade that had nearly impaled his brain. "You tried to _kill_ me."

Kakashi shrugged. "You have a surprisingly quiet tread. It was… unexpected."

Danny fell quiet at that, not knowing what to make of it. Certainly his 'tread' shouldn't have been audible to Kakashi—the man had been a good distance away and it was a windy day. His tread hadn't been audible to his _own_ ears.

"And that's a perfectly good reason to try and kill someone, I see." Despite the fact that he wasn't sensing that Kakashi meant him any harm, he wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"You aren't even bleeding."

Danny swept a thumb across his cheek and saw that that was true.

"Whatever, dude." He deflated. The adrenaline had faded from his veins and he just wanted to get away from this creepy man. Shizune was going to lecture him for being late to work. "I'm not here to bring you any trouble. I'm just going to leave."

He turned his back on the man—ghost-fighting instincts fighting him hard on that one—and began walking away.

"Why did you come here?"

He paused, then looked back. Kakashi seemed to honestly be waiting for a response. Briefly, Danny considered lying out of spite. It was not his nature however, and his gaze dropped as he told what he knew to be the truth.

"I lost someone I cared a lot about. I came here for a place to remember them."

Kakashi looked away thoughtfully.

"What about you?" Danny threw the question back after a moment's pause.

"… I got lost." Came the clearly insincere response.

"Where?" Danny sneered. "On the 'road to life'?"

Kakashi actually let out a breath of amusement. "Heh. That's not bad, kid. Might have to use that one sometime."

Danny opened his mouth—to express that he really _did_ need to leave—when Kakashi abruptly twitched then bodily hopped to the side. Danny stared at the odd movement—the man looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"Ack! Out of time…" Kakashi seemed to say to himself with a shake of his head.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, clear and loud, from thin air.

"KAKASHI! My eternal rival!"

Danny gave an involuntary hop of his own at the abrupt appearance of a second man next to them. Seriously, how did people in this village _keep popping up_ so suddenly? They were standing in a _field_ for crying out loud!

This new man was sporting a perfect, shiny bowl haircut that _had_ to be a wig, bushy eyebrows and was wearing what could only described as a green spandex body-suit.

Danny eyed the eccentric outfit worriedly as he remembered his ghost form's own hazmat suit.

"You have been trying to avoid me! But I—the youthful _Maito Gai_ —will not be deterred so easily! Kakashi! You must lay your youth down on the line as we continue our rivalry!"

"… Did you say something?" Kakashi looked at man with the bowl-cut—Gai—with impressive disinterest.

Gai's jaw dropped, but he quickly recovered. "Your hip attitude only makes me more determined!" Then, he snapped his arm out, giving Kakashi a thumbs up and a bright, blinding grin. "My hot-blooded passion and constant training is guaranteed to succeed over your effortless prodigal talents! Come! We will race around Konoha, 10 times, on one foot! You there!"

Danny felt a brilliant flash of fear as Gai turned his glowing eyes on him. He yelped as Gai covered the space between them in one leap and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Yes! I sense within you a burning youthful passion! You have experienced the invigorating struggle of having to train yourself against opponents stronger than yourself, haven't you?!"

Danny was simultaneously freaked out by the man's huge grin and alarmed that a stranger had seemed to glean all that from just looking at him.

"I-I-I-I-I…."

"You'll be the perfect referee for our challenge!" Gai abruptly let Danny go, spun in a full 360 and produced a stopwatch straight from hammerspace. "Take this! And time our dynamic challenge! Yes! _Let's go_!"

Then, much to Danny's amazement, the man tucked up a leg and began hopping out of the field.

"Don't worry." Kakashi told him, seemingly not at all bothered by the bizarre entrance and even wackier exit of Maito Gai. "You don't actually have to wait here. Just start the stopwatch and leave it somewhere."

Danny looked down at the watch in his hands. It was digital and surprisingly modern for Konoha—which seemed almost to exist in an electronic dead zone. He pressed the start button and when he looked up Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

After leaving the stopwatch running at the base of the Memorial Stone, Danny left the field, scratching his head and wondering what had just happened.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Danny got one day off work every week. Sometimes he would use this free day for some useful activities, like studying or exploring the city or going out for a meal with Naruto. More often however, this day would pass all-too-quickly in lethargic silence as he slept from morning to early evening. Unwilling to move, sometimes unwilling to even eat he would simply lay mindlessly in bed, aiming to sleep so he wouldn't have to think but hoping to dream. To dream of _them_.

On his day back to work after one such lazy free day, Danny felt something off in the air.

He'd gotten ready per his newly-standard routine: tugging on his newly-standard ankle-length pants and t-shirt as he strolled down the newly-standard dirt road to work.

He had paused to dig out a pebble from his deteriorating sneakers and was doing his best to avoid scratching an inflamed bug-bite on his ankle—Clockwork had sent him to this stupid, ankle-length-pants-wearing world just to spite him, he was _certain_ —when he'd noticed his senses prickling.

There were fewer people out on the streets than usual. The people who were out were not the usual fare of people that he normally saw sifting between stalls and going about daily chores. These men and women were dressed mostly in dark colours. Many wore padded vests and even more had on the funny metal-plated headband that Danny was beginning to suspect denoted some sort of military ranking.

Everyone seemed huddled in groups near the street vendors' stalls. Some sat, some stood and loitered, others gazed at him with suspicious looks. They were all talking: quietly murmuring to one another.

An unusually vivid attack of déjà vu struck him as he was reminded of something that had never really happened: when Freakshow had caused him to shift back into his human form at a Dumpty Humpty concert, shattering his secret identity. People had gathered and stared and gossiped then, too.

For a brief, paranoid moment he wondered if they'd discovered him—if they'd found out who he really was…

The next instant he was dismissing the thought as ridiculous. What was there to find out anymore, anyway? His secrets were no longer relevant. He had nothing to hide from these people.

Still, he found his pace picking up. He gripped the strap of his satchel tightly, felt the leather dig into the scars still visible on his palms from the incident in Vlad's lab. He avoided further eye contact until he reached the hospital.

It was only once he was inside the familiar doors and within white walls that he relaxed. Then his ears pricked as they caught snippets of whispered conversations. Eyes flicking up, he quietly listened in on the two nurses talking with the receptionist.

"You heard?"

"Of course I heard, everyone's heard!"

"He's here isn't he—the last one?"

"—can't believe—"

"How tragic—"

"He's an orphan now…"

"So it really was all of them?"

"Do you think it's true what they're saying?"

"What, that Itachi—"

"Danny!"

His head came up as Shizune spotted him from down the hall and turned in his direction. Her hair was in some disarray and she looked more agitated than Danny ever remembered seeing her.

"Shizune," He greeted as he pulled on his typical apron. "What's going on? People have been acting strange all day."

"Danny…" Her normal smile was absent as she looked at him with an uneasy expression. "I'm not sure you should be here today."

Instantly, he straightened in objection. "No. Something's going on and I want to know what. I want to help. They mentioned Itachi—" Shizune sent the gossiping nurses a scathing look and they bowed and scurried away, chagrined.

"Don't blame them." He told her. "I've been in Konohagakure for practically three months now and I'm not planning on going anywhere. I'm not going to spill any village secrets, I swear. _Please_ , Shizune. I can help. Don't send me home."

He didn't know why he was fighting so hard on this. Maybe it was because of Itachi, or maybe it was something else. All he knew is that he really did not want to be left in the dark. He didn't want to be isolated and blinded from whatever was happening.

Shizune considered him for a long moment before letting out a sharp exhale and spinning on her foot. "I don't know how much help you can be." She said as she strode down the hall. He knew her well enough now to understand this was an invitation for him to follow after her.

Danny spared a moment to cheer at his victory before jogging up to walk at her side. "Why? What's going on?"

"In here." She slid open a door and gestured with her head for Danny to enter.

"Wait," He paused. This wasn't a room he was usually allowed into. "Isn't this the intensive care—?"

"You want to help, right? Just get in." Shizune told him with some urgency.

He did and frowned when he saw there was someone—a rather small someone—occupying one of the beds. When he drew closer his mouth opened in a silent 'o' as he realized that he recognized that unruly mop of black hair, even with eyes he recalled to be big and dark closed.

"That's—"

"Uchiha Sasuke." Shizune spoke softly, sending the boy a sad look.

Danny's eyes snapped to her. "The nurses—they said—is he… his parents…?"

In spite of his inability to voice his question, Shizune somehow knew what he was trying to say and her lips pursed into a thin line. "I'm going to have to give those girls a stern reprimand for gossiping where all and sundry can hear them."

"I don't think they were being that open." Danny sent Shizune a small, apologetic look. "I just have keen ears."

"You do, don't you?" She said thoughtfully before turning her attention back to Sasuke. "I suppose there can be no harm in telling you this anyway. You're bound to find out sooner or later. The council likely isn't going to be happy though."

"If you don't mind," Danny said quietly. "I'd prefer you tell me rather than hearing some absurd second-hand story from the hundred and one gossip-mongers out there."

Her lips quirked, though there was no humour in her expression. Her eyes hardened. "He's not just an orphan, Danny. They're saying he's the only one left."

"Only _what_ left?"

"You know where the Uchiha compound is, yes? Go there after work today. Then you'll see."

He looked at her in horror. "You can't mean… I… I was there. I saw the Uchiha compound—it's huge! There must be hundreds of people—"

" _Were_ hundreds." Shizune corrected with a grimace.

" _That's not possible!"_ He stressed, quietening when she gave him a sharp look. He was appalled. Horrified. He had slept through _one_ day and _this_ had happened? "You're telling me that in one day something wiped out an entire clan of people and left only one kid alive? How old _is_ he anyway? Nine? Ten?"

"Eight." She answered.

 _Eight!_ Why was everyone _eight?!_ First Sakura, then Naruto, now Sasuke.

"I was there at the main house just… just a few weeks ago! I _met_ Fugaku…" That giant, foreboding man was dead? Danny couldn't believe it. Then he remembered Itachi and how teen had skewered a crow at over thirty paces away. "And Itachi! There's no way—"

Shizune suddenly snarled and snapped her head up. He instantly quietened at the look in her eyes.

"Listen, Danny. Take my advice and stop questioning this. And for the love of the Third don't mention Itachi's name around other people."

"Why?" When he received no answer he tried again. " _Why,_ Shizune?"

"Danny you need to drop this. Please. _Trust me_. I've told you everything I can. I am not at liberty to say anything more."

He grimaced but bit down on his tongue. Shizune had yet to give him any reason to doubt her. If she said she couldn't tell him more then he believed her.

"Ok… you got what you wanted, right? You see there's not much you can do here. C'mon, let's—" She began to usher him out of the room, but Danny held up a hand.

"Wait. Let me—let me look after him." He requested.

"What?"

"He's going to need someone to look after him, check in on him and stuff, right?" He looked at Sasuke, lying motionless and pale on his back. "Let me do it."

"Looking after an unconscious person isn't as easy a job as you're probably thinking." She said, unconvinced. He realized he was going to have to give her a better reason to let him do this.

"Look, I can do this. I… I understand it's not easy. I'll do whatever I need to do. If he wakes up I'll be able to deal with him… I… I know what it feels like to lose everyone you care about." His voice withered as his gaze fell. Still, he could feel Shizune staring at him intently.

"Danny… you've never talked about your life before you came to Konohagakure…" She paused meaningfully.

"It's not like you talk about what you do on those little 'work hiatuses' you keep taking." He shot back sardonically. Shizune's gaze narrowed and he tsked. "Fine. There's a reason I'm not eager to return to my home, okay? There's no one there for me anymore."

Shizune's eyes turned soft and Danny passed a hand over his face, through his hair, to avoid her pity.

"Don't, alright?" He fixed a determined look on her. "Just let me look after him."

There was a long moment of silence. He felt an icy vice around his heart and for one, unexpected moment he was hopeful. He touched his fingertips to his heart and _reached_.

But no, that coldness was only his emotional reaction to the current, terrible situation. What he was looking for was gone. His power was gone. _Danny Phantom_ was gone.

' _He's the same as me.'_ Danny thought as he looked at Sasuke. But there was another thought as well. One that caused his heart to shudder with pain. His power… If he'd had his _power…_

' _I could have prevented this._ '

Before his thoughts could turn darker, Shizune nodded, apparently having made up her mind.

"Okay."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Per Shizune's prediction, it was more work looking after the comatose Sasuke than he'd expected. Feeding him and keeping him hydrated was a daily job so Danny had to forgo his one free day per week. The boy was also under high-security priority and so required around the clock surveillance. Shizune let him leave after dark, but while the sun was up Danny was confined to the room.

It wasn't all bad. It was kind of nice to have the break from forced socialization at work. He had long since come to the conclusion that they were all hiding something massive from him—his current working theory was that Konoha was the site of some underground, super-secret facility of uber-knife-throwers created by a group of angered, failed ankle-length trouser fashionistas who were all conveniently ex-military. Whatever the secret was, it made any relationship he could've had with the hospital staff, even Shizune, strained.

He had claimed a desk and chair near Sasuke's bed and soon picked up the habit of reading his textbooks aloud to the comatose boy.

Although, 'comatose' was perhaps a misnomer. 'Non-responsive' might have been more accurate.

The first time the boy stirred fitfully, Danny hopped out of his chair and rushed over, thinking Sasuke might be waking up. One moment he'd been leaning over the bed in concern, the next he was on the floor clutching his eye.

He sat there for a moment, stunned—because, seriously, he'd just gotten decked by an eight-year-old!—but then his eyes registered the flailing limbs and his ears heard the screaming.

He did his best to keep Sasuke from rolling off the bed, ending up practically on top of the kid as he held down small, flailing fists and leaned on twisting hips. Sasuke's black eyes were open, but senseless. Danny stared down at those eyes and tried to talk sense into the boy. When that didn't work he raised his own voice and screamed for help.

The nurses, led by Shizune, came quickly. They dislodged Danny from Sasuke and shoved him unceremoniously out of the room. The last thing he saw before the door was shut in his face was Shizune laying a hand over the convulsing boy's forehead, speaking words he could not hear.

For a long time Danny stayed there, outside the door, panting, eyes wide and hair dishevelled and hanging in front of his eyes. Only once the screams died down and the nurses came out of the room did he come back to life.

"What happened?" He asked

"Seizure." Shizune said, distractedly.

"Is he okay? Is he waking up?"

"Yes and no." She curtly answered both questions. Then, as though realizing he wasn't going to let it go so easily, she sighed and met his gaze evenly. "Listen. This is likely going to happen again. When it does, just do exactly what you did: hold him down, prevent him from hurting himself, and call for help."

"Is there anything I—"

"There's nothing you can do for him. There's nothing anyone—" She paused as she seemed to rethink that phrase. "We just need to wait for him to wake up. Until then, you just keep watching over him, okay?"

He bit his lip and nodded.

The next time Sasuke began to scream, Danny obediently held him down and called for help. Afterwards, while he dutifully cleaned up the water and flowers from a spilled vase, he kept one ear on the quiet, but heated conversation going on in the hallway outside Sasuke's room.

"The boy is trouble. Already the fact that he's alive has got the village talking. When he gets older and releases his kekkei genkai he's only become an even bigger problem."

"Do you have any orders, sir?"

"No. I made a deal and I keep to my word. Damnable though the recipient may be."

By luck and a conveniently placed window, Danny had glimpsed the owners of the voices as they left the hospital. He recognized only one of them, but had a feeling it would one day come in handy to know that village councilman _Shimura Danzo_ took issue with the continued existence of the last Uchiha.

Quietly, he wondered what a _kekkei genkai_ was. It was unusual for Danny to come across words that weren't translated by Clockwork's spell. Perhaps he'd ask Shizune about it later. Kekkei genkai. He felt like it was important to make an effort to remember that term.

" _Itachi_ …"

He looked back at the kid, who was simultaneously sweating and shivering as he mumbled out that name.

" _Itachi…"_

"I know, Sasuke," He sent the boy a sad look. Keenly, he felt the loss of his own elder sibling.

 _Jazz…_

 **:o:**

Danny stared at his chopsticks. He squinted at the ramen, then back to the chopsticks.

Why was this so difficult?

He was terrible at using chopsticks. Always had been. Until now he'd sustained himself on mostly take-out and ate messily with his fingers and a flat-bottomed soupspoon he'd been reusing. But someone had suggested this cheap ramen joint that was supposed to be good and Danny hadn't been able to resist the allure of inexpensive food.

Now he was regretting that decision. Noodles couldn't be eaten with your fingers and when Danny had quietly asked for a fork, the man behind the counter had laughed in his face before walking away.

"Yo!" Someone greeted, sitting down on the stool next to him.

Danny blinked and looked up, meeting the twinkling eye of a familiar masked face.

"Ah… Hi again…" Danny said uncertainly. The last time he'd spoken with Kakashi, the man had thrown a knife at him. Danny was understandably wary.

"Having trouble?" Kakashi looked between the bowl of ramen and Danny.

"Um…"

"Your chopsticks won't magically start feeding you if you stare at them." The man advised unhelpfully as his own bowl of ramen arrived.

Danny felt his ears grow hot. "I-I know…" he stuttered. "I'm just… I'm just waiting for the noodles to cool down, s'all"

"Use both."

"Huh?"

"Pick them both up and hold them together—" Kakashi demonstrated with a deft flourish. "Hold the bowl in your other hand and use the chopsticks to push the noodles into your mouth."

Danny did as instructed and was pleased by the result.

"Ah! Thanks!" He grinned. "It works."

"That's how we teach children to use chopsticks before they learn the proper way."

Danny paused mid-slurp and glanced back at Kakashi. The man was looking at him amusedly over an empty bowl.

 _Empty?_

"Wait, when did you…?" Danny started, looking down at the bowl, then back at Kakashi. He was sorely tempted to ask, but restrained himself. It wasn't really any of his business.

But… he gave the man a sideways look. _How_? One second the bowl had been full, the next it was completely empty… And the man had never taken off his mask.

It was during this suspicious sideways glance that someone else caught Danny's attention.

"Ah… you've noticed Naruto." Kakashi said mildly.

Danny nodded. That was the same blond kid from the apartment down the hall. The kid who hadn't paid his rent and had accompanied Danny to dinner a few times before Danny had gotten busy with Sasuke.

Naruto was sitting on a stool further down the table. No one was sitting immediately to the kid's left or right, in spite of the fact that the rest of the place was packed. That, Danny thought, was a little odd.

"He comes here often." Kakashi added.

"He lives on his own, doesn't he?"

Kakashi didn't answer, but it didn't matter, Danny already knew.

A thought flittered through Danny's mind. ' _He's the same as me'._

"Why does he have a fox on his shoulder?" Danny asked and Kakashi looked at him sharply.

"What did you say?"

"A… fox." Danny looked at the man quizzically. "Can't you see it? It's sleeping all curled around his shoulder. I can't see well from here but I think it has multiple tails too."

Kakashi stared at him and, too late, he realized he'd said something wrong.

Fortunately, Kakashi did not pursue the topic and they spent the rest of his meal in silence. At some point, the elder man got up and left but Danny didn't take much notice. His eyes were on a diminutive figure in orange. When Naruto hopped down off his stool—falling nearly three feet before his feet touched the ground—and headed out Ichiraku Ramen, a group of seedy-looking men pointed and gossiped before getting up and leaving in the same direction as the boy.

Danny pushed away his empty bowl, tossed what he owed onto the counter, and followed.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

The men didn't even try to disguise the fact that they were following Naruto. They pointed, chattered and smirked and Danny was disgusted to see many people take notice but then simply looked away. Danny, who was well versed in bullies and bullying, thanks to star jock Dash Baxter back at Casper High, still could not fathom the mentality that would lead to apparently responsible _adults_ turning their back on a _child._

Predictably, the men waited until Naruto entered a dark alley to ambush him. One had crept around to block off the exit while the other two came up behind the boy.

Danny lingered at the mouth of the alley, carefully staying out of sight while trying to quickly come up with a plan. He couldn't spot anything he could use as a weapon. That made things difficult.

' _Ghost powers'd come in handy right about now. Eh, Fenton?'_ A small part of him that sounded like Sam mocked and he tried not to flinch at the reminder.

A reminder that was really more of a constant hollow ache in his chest…

"Hey, freak, remember us?" One of the men suddenly spoke loudly.

Naruto whirled, likely realizing he'd been trapped.

"No… Oh wait, you guys were the clowns in the last street festival, weren't you?" Naruto snapped with a cocky grin.

Still lingering out of sight, Danny had to give the kid props. He was gutsy. It was a little depressing though, to see that Naruto didn't even appear surprised at being ambushed in a dark alley by a group of thugs.

"Aw, that's cute." One of the two men in front of Danny said, stepping forward. "But no. You owe us money, kid."

"I don't owe you anything!"

"Yeah you do. You stole food from us, remember?"

"That was ages ago! And you already made me pay—"

"Ah, ah… that didn't include the _interest_."

The men were starting to close in on Naruto from both sides and Danny still didn't have a plan. Regardless, he put his hand on the wall, preparing himself to jump in. He had a fair idea now of where Naruto's rent money had gone and, thievery or not, the kid was a string bean—he looked to have a serious need for whatever food he could get his hands on.

"I don't have any money!" Naruto was shouting.

The men were advancing on the kid, rubbing their knuckles. "If you don't have the money we're gonna hafta find another way to make you pay."

"What, you gonna beat me up? You're only _genin_." Naruto jeered.

Danny paused, mid-stride as he wondered where he'd heard that word before…

"Why you little—"

"HEY!" Danny's voice was already ahead of him as he jogged forward. As one, the men all turned to him. Of the two in front of him, one had brown hair and the other had grey eyes. The man in the back, Danny saw, had short red hair.

"Who the hell are you?" Grey Eyes snarled at him.

"Doesn't matter." Danny said. "All that—Whoops!" He ducked neatly under their arms as they attempted to stop him and hopped over to Naruto. "All that matters is that I'm telling you to leave the kid alone."

Naruto was once again staring at him in disbelief.

People really needed to stop mistreating this kid.

"You should think twice before standing up to three ninja, boy." Brown Hair said.

If that was supposed to be some sort of threat, however, it sailed over Danny's head. "Ninja? What, like a gang or something? You can't mean _real_ ninja."

"Why you little—!"

"Wait," Grey Eyes held back Brown Hair as he peered at Danny closely. "You're white." He pointed out and Danny bit back on a sarcastic response.

"You're that foreigner, aren't you?" When Danny nodded, Grey Eyes continued. "Then I'll give you one free chance. That kid you're protecting is a dangerous freak of nature. He deserves what's coming to him."

Danny's eyes narrowed. There was that word again. _Freak._ "I really doubt that."

"You're not going to move aside then?" Grey Eyes asked.

"No." Danny responded. And his stance shifted—widened, lowered. At his side, Naruto raised his fists.

Grey Eyes grinned. "Fine. I guess it couldn't hurt to teach you a lesson as well, anyway. A little bit of ' _know your place'_."

"And what gives you the right to tell me _where my place_ is?" Danny said between clenched teeth.

"This." And the man fingered the metal-plated bandanna around his forehead. "You don't know, do you? Well, I'm gonna enlighten you, foreigner. Konohagakure isn't just any village. It's a village of ninja."

" _Ninja_? What are you—"

"Show him!"

Danny barely had time to spin around before a foot was planted into his midsection. Red Hair, who had yet to speak had sidled up to Danny unnoticed and lashed out at the teen. The kick actually lifted him off his feet and his back slammed against the wall of the alley.

"Had enough?" Grey Eyes taunted.

Danny was winded, but he managed to gather enough breath to speak. "That's all you got?" He smirked and looked at the men through his bangs. "The other day an eight-year-old hit me harder. If you're gonna claim to be _ninjas_ you gotta do better than that."

Brown Hair snarled at him. "I'll beat you so hard you'll be spitting teeth." And he leapt forward

The blow aimed at his face was predictable, though Danny had been expecting the man's fist and not his foot. He twisted, dodging the blow. The man spun and aimed another kick. Danny leaned away from the hit, then back-stepped to avoid the combination of punches which followed. The man was _fast_. Faster than most ghosts Danny had fought.

But if there was one skill Danny had gotten good at, that wasn't completely dependant on his ghost powers, it was dodging. And he used it fully to his advantage now.

Ducking and weaving, Danny tried furiously to come up with a plan. He couldn't attack—he was barely fast enough to keep dodging. Finally, his back hit the wall and the man lashed out in the punch he'd been hoping for. He ducked. And a crack split the air.

Danny looked up and his eyes widened.

Brown Hair removed his fist from the hole in the brick wall, dust and shavings falling to the ground. But the hand that came away was completely unharmed, not even bruised from the contact with the wall.

Brown Hair straightened and Danny shuffled away. "You think this wall would hurt me? Ha! Ninja have the strength and power of ten men in their fists! That wall is going to be your _head,_ boy!"

"Enough!"

The shout came from behind him and as Brown Hair stilled, Danny glanced behind himself quickly at the sound of a loud crumbling bang.

Grey Eyes had cracked the wall with the side of one fist and Danny's eyes widened as he saw the fist was _glowing_ —swirling with energy.

These men were not ghosts. Even without his ghost sense he was fairly certain of that.

But then what _were_ they?

The sound of yelling brought Danny's attention away from the fist and his eyebrows rose as he spotted Naruto. The boy had apparently been engaged in his own fight with Red Hair. Somehow Naruto managed to climb on top of Red Hair's shoulders and was gripping the man's ears and was whooping in enjoyment he dodged the man's angry swipes. Finally, Red Hair grabbed Naruto by the back of his shirt, ducked and flipped the boy over him. Naruto landed on his back on the ground and Danny winced at the impact. That must've hurt.

"I said enough!" Grey Eyes yelled. "You two are letting these useless boys get the better of you! Do I—" He didn't get to finish as a thick smoke suddenly exploded through the alley. Danny immediately squinted his eyes closed and the hollering and wailing around him told him the man hadn't managed to do the same in time.

Danny felt a hand grab his and was instantly wary. But the small size of the hand meant it could only have been Naruto's, so he didn't resist as he was lead away from the howling men.

"Come on!" Naruto called, letting go of his hand as they escaped the alley into clear air. Danny opened his eyes and saw that the kid was practically bouncing, a grin of excitement on his face. "That was just a smoke bomb. It won't keep them off us for long!"

Danny nodded. Together they raced through the streets, avoiding alleys and swerving around startled strangers. They didn't slow down until they made it back to their apartment building. In a bid to not wake the landlady, they yanked off their shoes before racing up the steps. Sliding around the corners, they sped through the corridors and Danny found himself choked with inexplicable, breathless laughter even as he tried to shush Naruto's giggling.

Naruto's room came first and Danny opened the unlocked door for both of them. Exhausted, they both collapsed against the wall of the room, panting with exertion.

Naruto was still laughing and Danny turned to flash a genuine grin at the boy.

"That was kinda fun." Danny admitted with some surprise.

Naruto flashed him a toothy smile. "You came to help me again!"

"Yeah, well…" The teen shrugged. "For all the good that did. You're the one who saved us in the end, kiddo." And without even upsetting his fox, no less. Danny eyed the still sleeping animal uneasily. There was something off about that thing. Had it really been sitting on Naruto's shoulder the whole time?

"One day, I'm goin' to become the best ninja in Konoha! I'm gonna pass the entrance exam for the Academy in a few months and then in no time I'll be a real genin. Then I'm gonna become Hokage and I'm gonna kick all those guys' butts!" Naruto puffed out his chest and nodded confidently.

' _I'm going to be a ninja!'_ Hadn't Sakura said that to him too? Back then, he'd dismissed her words as a childish dream, but now…

For the first time, Danny seriously considered it. Could they actually be ninjas _?_

 _Ninjas?!_

"Those guys were… ninjas?" He asked Naruto.

The boy nodded. "Not very good ones though."

Danny supposed that was likely true. Since, between the three of them, they couldn't even beat up a small kid and a clueless teenager.

He was going to have to talk to Shizune about this.

… _Ninjas!_

"So, this is your place?" He looked around the room, noticing all the empty packages of junk food strewn across the ground. "You should make sure to lock the room when you head out, at least." He considered also telling the boy to clean up after himself—three months living on his own had taught him that there was no such thing as a _small_ ant problem—but held off. It wasn't his place to parent the boy.

After a few seconds of silence, he looked down to see Naruto staring up at him with big, wide blue eyes. Danny blinked.

"Um… Yeah?"

"You're scolding me." The kid said bluntly.

"Um… Yeah?" Danny's head tilted to one side.

"Sooo…." Naruto dropped his eyes as he drawled out the word. "That means we're friends now, right?" And the boy stuck out a hand.

"Sure, Friends. But—!" Danny withheld his hand and pinned Naruto with a stern look. "One condition."

"What? What? C'mooooon," Naruto whined impatiently with a little hop. When Danny merely raised an eyebrow in silence, the boy eventually quietened and pouted. "Okay… what?"

Danny gestured loosely up and down at the clothes Naruto was wearing. "No more knocking me over and stealing my clothes when I'm doing laundry. _Okay_?"

"Deal!" And Naruto surprised Danny by leaping high into the air and grabbing his hand, shaking it vigorously.

"Friends." Danny smiled.

"Best friends, dattebayo!" Naruto effused.

"Yes, yes. Best friends, dattebayo." Danny's tongue struggled over the odd word but he was rewarded by Naruto's momentary surprise and subsequent delighted laughter.

"No stealing my word!"

Danny chuckled and, as always when he felt a spark of happiness, felt a resonating spike of guilty pain in his heart.

Later on that night, Danny lay awake in bed, stared at his ceiling pensively.

' _Today I helped someone. Or tried to, anyway. Forgot how that felt.'_

He was still exhilarated. But…

' _Isn't it bad to feel happy when it's my fault you're gone?'_

Then, another thought occurred to him and he couldn't help the boyish grin that stole across his face.

' _Sam, Tuck… These guys are ninjas! Actual, real-life_ ninjas! _That is SO cool!'_

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"You're hurt." Shizune informed him the next day as she stood imposingly over him, hands planted on her hips.

Danny was seated at his usual table with his feet propped up on Sasuke's bed and a thick text in his lap. He made an exaggerated mime of taking off a pair of reading glasses to look up at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You know, we were just getting to the interesting part, _The Functions of the Atrioventricular Valves: Messrs Biscuspid and Tricuspid_. It's a very engaging tale and my unconscious buddy here is eager to hear it. Maybe you could just come back in an hour or five?"

"Laying the sarcasm on a little thick there, Danny." She said with a withering look. "Ok, fine. I'll bite: what'd I do to offend you?"

Immediately, he flung his legs off the bed and closed the book with a snap. Standing, he tossed the book onto the table and leaned in toward Shizune. "Konoha isn't just a random little idyllic village where an abnormally large proportion of the population seem to get into fights with their weed whackers, is it? You're _ninjas!_ "

The look on Shizune's face was all the answer he needed. "Where did… how did you…?"

"Wow," He let out an astonished laugh, falling back against the table and raking a hand through his hair. "It's really true, isn't it? I didn't believe it... _My God…_ "

Shizune hurried to the door of the room. She checked down the hallway in both directions to make sure they were alone before leaning back in and closing the door.

"Danny," She turned to him. "You're a foreigner and a stranger to this village. There are secrets—"

"How long did you honestly think that secret was going to last? It was a pretty stupid long-term plan." Honestly the only reason it had worked for as long as it had was because of Danny's own suspended belief. Because, _ninja village_? Seriously?

"The Hokage was of the opinion that you should be told from the beginning. But the council—"

"Yes, yes, the _council_. We already know where _they_ stand. What about _you_ , Shizune? You're supposed to be my friend."

Shizune met his disappointed frown evenly. "I could not tell you. You know that." She said bluntly. "How did you find out?" When he didn't reply she looked at his midsection, hidden under his shirt. "Is that how you got whatever injury you're hiding under that shirt?"

Danny cringed, bringing a hand to his bruised ribcage. "How did you even notice that? I've been in this room all day."

"When you came in, you flinched when you took your apron off its hook."

"That's _it?_ "

"Ninja are trained to notice even the smallest details."

He blinked at her. "You're one too?" For whatever reason, that possibility hadn't occurred to him.

"You commented once on my 'fashion accessory'." She tweaked a finger at her metal plated headband. "Now you might as well know: everyone who has one of these is a ninja. Why? Think girls can't be ninja?" She quirked a challenging eyebrow at him.

He shook his head honestly. "No. I know you well enough to fear being on the wrong side of your temper. But you work in a hospital. That's kind of the _opposite_ of what ninjas do. Conventionally." In his mind, he was recalling a similar conversation with Sam, who had once disparaged him for making some thoughtless gendered comment. At the time, he had begged off the impending argument with a hasty apology. Now he regretted it, knowing he could no longer tell her what he actually felt.

He couldn't tell her, for example, that hers was the voice he'd heard in his head, giving him a firm dressing down when he'd nearly fallen against Pariah Dark. He couldn't remind her of how she'd trained him and Tucker for that fitness test; how she'd fought against Aragon in the Ghost Zone, saving his life as she blazed brilliantly and courageously through the air on the back of Dora, the dragon princess. He couldn't argue back at her that he wasn't gender biased unless it was in _favour_ of women because Jazz was the ultimate genius and Sam was the strongest, toughest, bravest person he'd ever known.

' _And Mom, who never carried a cellphone because who needs to call for help when you can singlehandedly take down a horde of mutant ghost animals with a lightsaber…'_

He knew he'd drifted off into memory when Shizune spoke and startled him back into awareness. "Come on, let's take a look at what you did to yourself. And why don't you tell me exactly what happened?"

Danny reddened as Shizune had him hop on a bed and remove his shirt. But the clinical detachment with which she treated him eventually had him relaxing enough to tell her what had happened the night before.

"Naruto!" She gasped, unconsciously pulling hard on the bandage she was wrapping around his torso.

Danny winced. "Yeah. Why? You know him?"

"No… well… I know _of_ him. Just… Just continue."

He did and when he got to the end Shizune weighed him with a severely critical look. "You do realize that you were very, very lucky. Picking a fight like that was a very idiotic thing to do."

"Hey, now." Danny objected, though there was a small smile on his face. "I would have done a whole lot better if they'd been _regular_ bullies and not beefed-up _ninjas._ Besides, if I hadn't interfered then they would've done just as bad or worse to Naruto. You haven't seen how people look at him in this village… Or have you?" A frown flickered across his face as he saw the way she avoided looking at him. "I don't suppose you'd tell me _why_ everyone treats him like he's gum on their shoes?"

Shizune stayed stubbornly quiet as she finished bandaging Danny and indicated for him to pull his shirt back on.

"Fine." He huffed. "Then how about this: is it ok if I bring him here from time to time?"

"Danny, visitors aren't really—"

"Now that's a lie and you know it. Or are Sakura and Ino just special exceptions?" He sent a pointed look at the vase of fresh flowers sitting on Sasuke's bedside table.

"There are going to be a lot of people who aren't going to like having him here." She warned him.

"Are you going to be one of those people?" He retorted.

She leaned back, lips pressing tightly together.

"No."

"Then I can handle it."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

When Danny showed up to the hospital the next day with Naruto in tow, people quite literally paused in their work to stare at them as they walked down the hall.

Naruto seemed largely unaffected and Danny was actually a little envious of the boy's thick skin.

"So he's the kid you're looking after?" Naruto hopped on a small stool so that he could properly see over the bed and examine Sasuke's lax face. "Why's he just lying there?"

"Something bad happened to him. It hurt him badly enough that he's having trouble waking up." Danny answered as he slipped on a work apron. He glanced at Naruto, observing the ever-present multi-tailed fox sleeping on the boy's shoulder. He had yet to ask the kid about his pet, and wondered if he should be allowing the animal so close to Sasuke. But a sneaking suspicion was growing in him about the nature of the fox and he refrained from mentioning it.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

"I… don't know." Danny admitted. "But whatever it was, it killed his whole family."

"Oh…" Naruto's eyes widened as he was seized by an emotion Danny didn't quite grasp. "So he's… He's the same as me, then?"

' _The same as us.'_ Danny thought, wondering at the weakness that made him too fearful to put a voice behind those words.

Naruto nodded and looked back down. "He's gonna need friends when he wakes up."

The solemn assuredness in the eight-year-old's voice was a little depressing. "Yes. I suspect he will."

It was near the end of the day when they were interrupted. "Danny, can you help me with something for a moment?" A nurse, the same one who'd been there the day he'd first woken up in the hospital, poked her head into the room. Danny nodded and followed after her, though not before telling Naruto to behave and not leave the room.

The task she'd needed help with was minor—simply handing out dinner to the patients and helping the more infirm to eat. Still, Danny was somewhat chafed at having been brought to help do the girl's job for her.

Taking the trolley of food trays, he rolled his eyes at the nurse's retreating back. He still hadn't forgiven the way she'd interrupted his discussion with Tucker. She had a habit of interrupting him when he was doing something more important.

He hadn't seen any of his family or friends since that night. No ghosts, no apparitions. No delusions, even…

Finishing up with the last patient, Danny was heading back to the intensive care room when he heard a raised voices coming from the direction of Sasuke's room.

A bad feeling settled in his stomach and he picked up his pace to a jog.

"No! I'm allowed to be here!" A shrill voice he recognized as Naruto's, yelled.

"I don't know who let a troublemaker like you in, but—"

"NO! Danny let me in! And he told me not to leave the room! Lemme _go_!"

Danny skidded into the room and gasped as he saw one of the male staff wrestling a squirming Naruto under one arm. The boy kicked and twisted and the man looked like he was considering hitting the boy. A few people had gathered inside the room to watch the spectacle and Danny shoved his way past them.

"HEY!" He ran up to the man holding Naruto. He raised his index finger and pointed at the ground. The image of his mother flashed across his face and he did his best to challenge her as he rebuked the guard. "Let him _down_! He's a guest here!"

"Listen twerp, I know you're not from around here so I'll make this simple. You gotta stay far away from this one." The man gestured with his head at Naruto and the boy hissed, turning red with anger. "He's a rotten kid."

" _Really_? Because from where I stand _you're_ the one who—" With a sharp shake of his head, Danny bit down on his anger. He continued with a forced calm in his terse voice. "I invited Naruto here. And I cleared it with Shizune. Go check with her if you want confirmation but _let him down_."

Everyone in the room was staring at him. Even Naruto had ceased his struggling to look up at him with wide eyes.

The man holding on to Naruto narrowed his eyes at Danny. "Fine." He hissed and abruptly released his hold on Naruto who fell unceremoniously to his hands and knees. "But if Shizune doesn't back up your story…" He left the threat hanging and stalked out of the room. The gathered people slowly dispersed, but Danny paid them no heed as he approached Naruto.

"Owww… He didn't have to drop me." The boy complained.

Danny smiled lightly and extended a hand to help Naruto up. "You just attract trouble everywhere you go, don't you?" As he spoke, his eyes sharpened on the fox curled obliviously at the juncture of the boy's neck. Taking his chance, he put a hand down on Naruto's shoulder and confirmed a long suspicion as his hand passed right through the fox as though the animal were an illusion.

Or a ghost.

Naruto rubbed the underside of his nose with the back of one finger and grinned up at Danny.

"I'm sorry," The teen continued with a sigh as he took his hand off Naruto. He could deal with the strange ghost-fox later. "I shouldn't have left you alone… Or maybe at least told everyone that you were with me…"

Naruto just blinked big blue eyes at him.

After looking into those eyes for a long moment, Danny let out a quiet, incredulous chuckle. "Nothing fazes you, does it, kid?"

"Can you teach me that neat trick you did?"

Danny raised a quizzical eyebrow and Naruto practically hopped with pent up exuberance.

"You know! That trick you did to make your eyes glow!"

Those words were a frozen ice cube sliding down Danny's spine.

"W-what…?"

"Your eyes! They just got all… glow-y." Naruto cupped his hands around his own eyes in an imitation of binoculars as though to demonstrate. "And then the gorilla let me go. Was it chakra? Some sort of way of controlling the chakra behind your eyes?"

"I-I… I don't know what you're talking about." Danny denied, turning away. With unsteady hands he picked up his textbooks and notes and stuffed them messily into his bag. "Look, it's almost time for my shift to end. Why don't we head out and get some dinner?"

As always, the prospect of food easily distracted Naruto. By the time they parted ways to enter their respective apartments, Danny had convinced himself that the boy had been imagining things.

With what he felt was an impressive show of willpower, Danny didn't even glance at his mirror as he prepared for sleep. He refused the temptation to try and draw out something _that wasn't there_.

' _It's_ _ **gone**_ _. Gone, gone._ _ **Gone**_ _!'_

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Now that he knew what he was looking for, it was actually incredibly easy to pick out the ninjas in the village from the civilians.

Shizune had given Danny a day off, telling him he needed to rest his ribs. He had protested, but Shizune had informed him in no uncertain terms that if she saw his face at the hospital today then she would make sure he had a reason to be there—a reason that would hurt.

Wisely, Danny decided to take the day off.

He woke up late, but didn't stay in bed. He grabbed breakfast in the form of a couple of mangosteens—one of the fruits he'd discovered in Konoha and found to his liking—and downed that with some milk. Then, he stood over his folded mattress and considered his still unfurnished studio.

He had saved some money over the past couple of months. And Shizune had recommended a good shopping street for bargains when she'd noticed him wearing the same three shirts over and over. He could also use a hotplate. And maybe a chair and table. It wouldn't hurt to look at the prices for bedframes while he was at it.

Getting dressed, Danny emptied his satchel of medical texts before slinging it over his shoulder. Locking his door, he walked down the narrow hallway between the apartments. The wood paneling creaked under his feet as he stopped outside Naruto's room.

After some deliberation, he knocked on the door.

After a few minutes of standing awkwardly in the hallway, it became apparent that Naruto wasn't home.

Danny turned and continued on his way.

He shook away the twinge of loneliness.

Outside, Danny was greeted by a bright, cloudless sky and the common bustle of people talking, shopping and travelling from place to place.

Adjusting his satchel, Danny recalled that the market street was clear across the village and he sighed quietly, remembering with nostalgia his old motor scooter. Cutting off that thought before his memory widened to his friends, he huffed and started on his long trek.

As Danny walked the dirt streets, he marvelled again at the strange, Eastern buildings and fashions. He wondered if he'd ever get used to living in Konoha. He knew that he still couldn't manage to walk properly on these streets, as his shoes always managed to kick up enough dirt and mud to streak his bare ankles brown.

Usually, he walked with purpose to the hospital, ignoring the people around him. Today, he took the time to saunter and to observe.

Danny looked with new eyes at the women and men who, until now, he had just categorized as distrustful or shady. Now, he could see that each and every one of those people wore the same metal headband as Shizune. What he had always assumed to be an odd accessory now became a deadly symbol. He saw them everywhere, glinting off foreheads, hanging around necks, wrapped around sinuous arms, even worn as belts.

Ninjas walked differently than other people. Some were stealthy, others were showy. Some were sullen, others cocky. All of them carried an aura of danger.

Danny could tell with a glance which ninjas had faced battle and which hadn't. Both sides resonated deeply with his own experiences.

Looking at the ninjas of Konoha, Danny saw old faces, fresh faces, some wore vests, others didn't.

He wondered if there was some sort of ranking system.

Naruto had said the two idiots who had tried to beat them up in the alley were 'genin'. Naruto had also said that he wanted to go to the Academy to become a 'genin'. So that was probably a pretty low rank.

An _Academy for Ninjas!_

Danny felt a grin pulling at his mouth as just the _thought_ of a Ninja Academy was _so cool_.

' _Sam would've wanted to go.'_

Even a part of him wanted to go, if only to learn the skills. A bigger part of him knew that he was not cut out to be a ninja. Without his ghost half, his fighting ability was laughable. Danny _Fenton_ was not an aggressive personality. And Danny, Fenton _or_ Phantom, could not stomach the idea of killing people for a living.

' _But there was Shizune…_ '

He recalled that Shizune frequently took off from work. A frown deepened his brow as Shizune's once annoying but easily dismissed absences now took on a darker meaning.

Being a ninja couldn't be safe work. The Uchiha clan had been the village's police force—which meant that they must reasonably have all been ninjas—and they had all been killed.

Danny recalled the way the air had blackened around Uchiha Itachi when the youth had been angered.

" _He's ANBU now, isnt' he? Youngest yet?"_

These words, spoken by the two gossiping women that had told him where to find the Uchiha compound, came back to Danny now.

ANBU… was that a rank for ninjas? The women had sounded impressed. Did that mean that Itachi had held a high rank?

Danny didn't know what standard was for a 'good' or 'bad' ninja, but it was damn impressive the way that Itachi had killed a crow from over a hundred meters with a single dagger.

' _And if he can kill as easily as he can toss a dagger…!'_

Danny remembered the night he'd arrived in Konoha with a shiver. He reached up to grasp his shoulder where it had been punctured by a knife, only his lucky reflexes prevented that knife from piercing his heart. Itachi could have killed him that day. But he hadn't.

And now Itachi was dead.

Danny couldn't conceive that someone as deadly as Itachi was could have been killed. Even from the few short interactions Danny had had with Itachi, the youth seemed too powerful, too untouchable.

' _Then again, Shizune said not to 'talk about him'. She said Sasuke's family was dead but…'_ There was something… odd about the way Shizune had talked about Itachi.

Was it possible Itachi was still alive?

"I heard what you did."

Danny actually yelped aloud as he hopped a foot in the air and spun around. Kakashi was walking side-by-side with him, calmly as though he'd always been there. The man had his entire body curved toward the book in his hands. His nose was buried so far into the book that Danny wondered how Kakashi had managed not to bump into every person he walked passed.

Quickly, Danny scanned the man and his gaze rested momentarily on the headband covering one of Kakashi's eyes.

Of course, it made sense that Kakashi was a ninja.

"Oh, so you know about that, then? That'll make things easier." Kakashi spoke to his book but Danny knew the man was addressing him and he shot Kakashi a dry stare.

"Know about what?" Danny deflected.

"What, indeed?" Kakashi murmured, then fell silent.

Danny allowed the silence to stretch for half a minute before conceding that Kakashi was neither going to go away anytime soon, nor was he going to willingly give up any secrets.

"Yeah, I know about the ninja thing." Danny offered, in a bid to get the conversation moving and over with. This scarecrow-haired man unnerved him.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Kakashi said conversationally, his nose still in his book.

Danny glanced at the man as Kakashi turned a page. He got a brief glimpse of the inside of the book and felt his face redden, his eyebrows lifting incredulously as he wondered if he'd actually just seen a drawing of a naked woman.

" _Is this guy seriously reading a porn comic book in public?"_ Danny eyed Kakashi edgily, wondering why he felt simultaneously offended and curious. Clearing his throat, Danny chose to ignore the book and instead respond to Kakashi's comment.

"What? Being surrounded by killers? Actually… not as much as you might think." Danny shrugged looking at his hand as he rubbed his thumb across his nails. It was true enough: being surrounded by danger wasn't all that new for him. He'd just traded deranged supernatural creatures for trained supernormal murderers.

What had changed was his own sense of power and security. In Amity Park he'd _been_ one of those supernatural creatures. Here… Here he was just… normal. Normal Danny Fenton.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kakashi lower the book. He felt the man's gaze on him.

"Not all ninja are killers."

"No?" Danny was honestly surprised. "Thought that _was_ the job description."

Kakashi looked away. "No has explained to you what we are?"

Danny shrugged. "No one's really had the opportunity yet. I only found out a couple of days ago."

"When you got that injury to your ribs."

Danny's back straightened. How had Kakashi known? Was he really making that much of a production of his injury?

"You hide it well." Kakashi said, almost as though he was answering Danny's thoughts. "You must have some experience hiding injuries."

Danny weighed the value of denying it and came up empty. "Yep."

Kakashi nodded at the succinct reply. Then he made an abrupt turn toward a large building. "Come." Kakashi ordered as he stepped up onto the porch and toed off his sandals.

Danny frowned as he hesitated. There was a small wooden plank hanging off the awning of the building marking the place as some sort of public establishment but Danny tsked at his complete inability to read the sign.

Kakashi had already disappeared inside and, after another moment of indecision, Danny brushed off his concern and followed in after the man.

Danny had barely taken two steps into the building when he stopped dead. The halls were empty, there were cubbyholes instead of lockers and the floors and walls were wood instead of tile and concrete but there was no mistaking what this place was.

"You look pale." Kakashi observed.

"This place…" Danny stood in the center of the hallway, looking back and forth. Doors lines both walls and as he watched, one door slid open and a young boy with messy black hair entered into the hall. The boy eyed Danny with curiosity, openly stared at Kakashi with awe, then bowed before quickly backing away and disappearing around a bend in the hall.

"This is the Academy. Where young, bright-eyed, wet-eared hopefuls train to become genin. If they're so lucky. Are you going to be ill?"

"No." Danny wiped a cold hand over his hot face and leaned against a wall. He hadn't expected this. He hadn't anticipated that seeing another school—no matter how different—would hit him so _hard._ All he could see was _them:_ Sam and Tucker hanging out in front of his locker, Jazz stalking over to scold him about forgetting to hand in some school assignment, them plotting behind the school to overturn the lunch menu, Sam telling Dash off, Tucker gossiping about girls, Jazz spazzing out over some presentation or event, hunting ghosts, eating lunch, meeting between classes, talking laughing, fighting—

Danny gasped like a drowning man coming up for air. He shook himself, raked a hand through his hair and then fisted his hand—tight—in the hair at the base of his head. The stinging in his scalp brought him back to himself.

"S-sorry…" Danny stammered, having no idea how his freak out must have looked to Kakashi. "I… I used to go to school. Back home. Not like a ninja academy, but a regular… but a school. Yeah."

"I see." Kakashi looked away and Danny was grateful for the opportunity to pull himself together. Once he had composed himself, he looked up to see Kakashi walking down the hallway and he hurried to catch up.

"Why did you bring me here?" Danny wanted to know.

"To show you something." Kakashi answered blithely as he pushed open a sliding door and walked in. When Danny hesitated to follow, Kakashi's head popped back out of the room. "Come in. They won't bite."

Danny quirked an eyebrow and followed the man into the room.

He was expecting a classroom, but not one of this size. The room was an auditorium with tables and chairs set on rising steps. There must have been a hundred kids in the room, all aged between nine and thirteen. The kids were surprisingly quiet, all sitting hushed as they listened to the teacher presenting at the front of the classroom. Danny had never seen such a quiet classroom.

"You're surprised." Kakashi commented.

"I didn't expect there to be so many kids…" Danny responded.

"Becoming a ninja is a point of pride in Konoha. It is a prestigious position. Many kids dream of becoming ninja."

"Kids don't always know what's best for themselves." Danny spoke lowly and there was a bitter ring to his tone.

"Perhaps not."

Danny and Kakashi had entered at the back of the classroom. They garnered a few stares from the students—Kakashi in particular.

"You're popular." Danny murmured and received no response from Kakashi.

Unlike students in Amity Park however, these kids didn't whisper and exchange notes. Instead, after a few minutes of staring, they simply turned around and went back to listening to the teacher.

"Before we end off the class, I'd like a few volunteers to demonstrate the techniques we've been practicing today." The teacher offered.

Danny's eyebrows rose as over half the class raised their hands eagerly. He recalled with some humour how Mr. Lancer had once resorted to guilting Danny into doing his assignments by telling a sad story of how teaching prevented him from visiting his 'sister'. His 'sister'—who was, in fact, Mr. Lancer himself dressed up in a dress.

' _Well, he won't ever have to tell that story again.'_

Danny's smile fell, but even his sombre mood didn't stop him from watching with interest as the teacher picked two students out of the crowd.

The first student, a girl with bright eyes and a round face, stood up ramrod straight with attention. She slapped her hands together, making a gesture that was meaningless to Danny.

"TRANSFORM!"

Danny's eyes widened as the girl lit up with a bright pale-blue light before a puff of smoke enshrouded her. Then, in her place was a duplicate of the teacher. Danny's eyes shifted between the fake teacher and the real one. If he squinted, he could just make out an odd blue shimmer around the fake teacher, otherwise, they looked exactly alike.

The girl transformed back into herself and the teacher congratulated her.

Then the next student stood. Posture military-straight, the brown-haired boy slapped his hands together making a symbol with his fingers that was different than the one the girl had made.

"CLONE TECHNIQUE!"

The boy's cry was followed by his body flashing briefly blue before smoke enveloped him. Then the smoke cleared and the boy had doubled.

The teacher gave his congratulations.

"Thank you, sir!" Came a chorus of cries from the two brown-haired boys before a puff of smoke turned them back into one.

The teacher dismissed the class then and as the children filed out Danny was still attempting to wrap his head around what he had seen.

"How did they do that?" Danny questioned.

"Chakra." Came Kakashi's simple answer.

Chakra… that word was slowly becoming familiar to Danny. Naruto had mentioned it. Shizune too. He dimly remembered something about 'Chakra Treatments' not working on him when he'd arrived injured in Konoha.

"Can anyone use it?" Danny asked.

"Only if you're trained in it from a young age. And also… only if you have it…" Kakashi's voice seemed to trail off oddly and Danny looked up to see that the man was staring at him thoughtfully.

"So what, you brought me here to show me kids practicing fancy techniques? They're _fancy_ , yes. _Cool. Exciting._ But how does that counteract my point? Learning how to kill more efficiently is still _learning how to kill_."

"I didn't bring you here for the children. Come."

The kids had all left the room, but the teacher had hung back. Kakashi descended the stairs towards the instructor and Danny followed. The teacher was a man in his twenties or early thirties. He had brown hair pulled into a ponytail and the headband marking him as a ninja wrapped around his forehead. It occurred to Danny that the man looked somewhat familiar.

"Kakashi! What are you doing here?" The teacher greeted Kakashi with a surprised but pleasant expression. Then his eyes fell on Danny with interest. "And who's your friend?"

"This is Fenton Danny. He's the foreigner that's got the council in a tizzy." Kakashi responded serenely.

"Oh!" The teacher's eyes lit up with interest. "Mr. Fenton! Of course! How fortunate to speak with you face-to-face. I never had the chance to thank you properly!"

Danny was taken aback when the man bowed to him.

"I-I'm sorry but… have… have we met?" Danny responded uncertainly.

"Did you save so many lives that night that you've already forgotten me?" The teacher questioned, though his words were dulled by his teasing smile. "My name is Umino Iruka. You can call me Iruka. You saved my life."

"Oh!" Danny's eyes widened as he recalled where he had heard Iruka's name. "Punctured lung!" He exclaimed before he could stop himself.

His comment earned him two amused looks from the adults.

"Well, I see you remember my ailment." Iruka grinned.

"That's probably how he's been referring to you in his head all this time: 'Punctured Lung'." Kakashi drawled and Danny shot the man a mild glare.

"I'm sorry." Danny offered Iruka. "I do remember you. It's just that you look different… and I saw a lot of faces that night."

"Yeah, I guess I do look different without all the blood on me, right?" Iruka laughed. "But no need to apologize. If anything, I should be apologizing to you for not thanking you sooner, Mr. Fenton."

"I was lucky to catch your injury." Danny smiled honestly. He didn't need the thanks but knew it was important to receive gratitude graciously—something he had learned as Phantom and not as Fenton. "I'm very glad to see you well—that's all the thanks I need. And please, call me Danny."

"Very nice." Kakashi interjected, pulling Iruka and Danny's attention back to him.

"Kakashi… not that I'm not glad to see you but did you drag Danny away from his business just to bring him to see me?" Iruka asked. A worried expression then crossed his face. "You came in during my class. Didn't the council—"

"Well, there's the matter right there. Danny has just recently discovered the true nature of our village."

"You know that—?" Iruka cut himself off as he looked at Danny with wide eyes.

"Ninjas. Yup." Danny nodded.

"He's still a bit…sceptical." Kakashi said mildly. "So perhaps you could—"

"Well! Of course! You know how the hospital works, right? The medical ninja heal people right up in no time! Look at me, I was down for the count but now I'm fit as an ox. Only took a day of healing. Course, the healing couldn't have happened if you hadn't spotted the ailment. I'd say you'd make an excellent medical ninja, Danny!"

"Ah… " Danny was taken aback as he processed this information.

"Thank you, Iruka. I think you've said just the right thing. We should let you get back to your class."

Iruka nodded. "Yes. But Danny—feel free to drop by anytime. We could go for ramen, maybe."

Danny nodded and bid Iruka goodbye before following Kakashi out of the Academy.

"So… that's it?" Danny asked Kakashi after they had put on their shoes and exited the Academy. They loitered in the shadows near the Academy walls. "You wanted me to see how ninja techniques helped Iruka? A few more days and I would have figured that out at the hospital."

"I wanted you to speak with Iruka because he was someone _you helped_. You were directly involved and had a direct interest in him."

Danny was beginning to understand the lesson and wasn't sure that he appreciated it. "And what? You're saying that if I were a ninja I would have been able to heal him and not just realize his symptoms?"

"I'm saying that being a ninja isn't about killing. It's about protecting those we care about. It's about fighting for a cause greater than our own life. I approached you today to tell you something, you know."

Danny did vaguely remember that. "Yeah, you said that you 'knew what I did'. What did I do?"

"I saw you in that alley the other night, when you interfered to spare Naruto from a beating."

"A beating from _ninjas_ as I recall." Danny pointed out. Then his eyes narrowed, "And how did you know about that?"

"Those idiots will never advance past genin. They don't even deserve their title of ninja. And I know because I was there." Kakashi's voice was calm and without inflection.

"You were there and you didn't _help_?" Danny was incredulous.

"You two had the situation well in hand. If I had perceived you to be in danger, I would have intervened."

" _I_ perceived danger." Danny objected, then sighed as he let it go. "Fine. Whatever. So what's the lesson?"

"Sometimes you need to fight to protect what's important to you." Kakashi said simply.

Danny wasn't sure why, but for some reason this comment caused him to flare. "And sometimes, being a _fighter_ is what calls down danger on your loved ones."

Kakashi was silent and for a few breaths, Danny met the elder man's calm gaze defiantly, daring Kakashi to dispute his words.

"Perhaps you are right. Perhaps accepting danger will also call danger to you. That is why we do not act alone, why we have teammates and companions to watch our backs as we watch theirs."

"And what if…" Danny hissed out the pain in his heart as he spoke his next words. "And what if you're the only one who survives out of such a team."

Despite the mask that covered most of Kakashi's face Danny still saw the man's face whiten and his expression grow wretched. Danny wondered, then, what was the loss that Kakashi had suffered.

"Then you must find a new reason to fight. Because they chose their path—"

"They chose _nothing_!" Danny spat, clenching his fists and turning away as he grinded his teeth together. "They didn't chose _that_. I—"

"Then your duty is to live your life in remembrance. To carry their expectations of you, to fulfill their duties as well as your own and to continually strive for redemption, even if it will always be beyond your reach."

Danny's shoulders hunched and his eyes squeezed shut because that sounded like such a _painful way to live._

It seemed though, that Kakashi had said his peace and silence fell between them for a long while.

"Why…" Danny looked up at Kakashi and the teen paused in his sentence as he saw that Kakashi had pulled out his lewd comic book and was reading intently. Danny felt his eye twitch because Kakashi was _ruining his serious moment of emotional turmoil_ – and then took a breath before continuing, "You keep popping up to talk to me and give me advice. Why? Why do you care?"

"You helped Naruto. As a foreigner and an outsider you have less reason than most to befriend someone who, himself, is ostracized and disliked."

"Being a foreigner is a stupid reason not to help someone." Danny replied. "And Naruto is a _kid_. He shouldn't be treated like he is. If there's a secret reason why everyone in the village hates Naruto then I'm not privy to it. I don't even think _Naruto_ is privy to it, which makes everyone's actions even more cruel. And, frankly, even if people have a reason, it doesn't justify anything. He's _alone,_ and he's a _kid._ Someone should be looking after him!"

Kakashi was staring at him oddly and Danny was alarmed to feel his eyes itch. He blinked, once, twice, and then scrubbed at his eyes with his palms.

' _Tears. It was only tears.'_

"You see, there it is, right there. You're different." Kakashi said.

"I'm… different." Danny repeated flatly. There was something messed up about Konoha if it was 'different' to think that an eight-year old should have a proper home.

"You are, indeed." Kakashi's gaze was penetrating and Danny frowned, turning his head to the side and averting his gaze.

"So, that's it, then? That's all you have to say?" Danny asked after a moment of silence. When he received no reply he turned his head back but saw only empty space. Eyes widening, his head swivelled to look down the alley, then into the bustling street.

There was no sign of Kakashi.

"Ninjas." Danny spat the word out with a tsk.

* * *

 **:o:**

 **END PART III**

 **To be continued in PART IV – SASUKE**

 **:o:**


	4. PART IV - SASUKE

Part IV. Enjoy!

 _Wow_. You all are awesome. I love hearing your thoughts as we go through this fic!

Tuck in with cozy lights and hot chocolate. This is going to be a long doozy of a chapter!

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year!

* * *

 **:o:**

 **Ectoplasm and Chakra**

 _When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth was far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply_ ordinary _in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel._

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: _Sholay_

 **:o:**

* * *

 **:o:**

 **PART IV - SASUKE**

 **:o:**

* * *

"Yo! White ghost! We got a new medic-nin starting today. Show'im around."

Danny was tying on his apron when he heard this order from one of the medics standing behind the reception desk. He shot the ninja an unamused look and the man grinned unapologetically back at him.

It annoyed Danny how there were still people in the hospital who insisted on calling him 'white ghost'. The term wasn't outright pejorative, but it had an unpleasant slant to it and carried all sorts of unfriendly subtext: _'different', 'subpar', 'outsider'._

"You could have at least phrased it like a question." Danny mumbled to himself as he looked up and met the eyes of the newbie.

He was surprised to see that the new medic-ninja was a boy not much taller than himself. The boy had grey hair but in this village—where hair color seemed like more of a lottery draw than a consequence of human biology—that was hardly an indicator of age. His round face and gangly build seemed to put him around Danny's age.

Danny's interest was piqued. Aside from Itachi, this was the first ninja Danny had met who was close to his age.

"Hi. So you're the new hire? Fenton Danny." Danny introduced himself with a short bow.

"Yakushi." Came the succinct reply as the youth returned Danny's bow with a shallow dip and a raised eyebrow.

Danny's own eyebrows rose as he read in Yakushi's eyes a sense of superiority and mild disdain. Then there was the fact that Yakushi refused to offer his first name. Deciding against confronting the youth about it, Danny drew on the patience he'd honed from years of dealing with Dash Baxter and turned away.

"Follow me. I'll show you around."

Danny took Yakushi to the locker room and offered the youth an apron.

"You know…" Yakushi drawled. "I'm quite familiar with many hospital procedures. I graduated at the _top_ of my class, you see. I don't really need to be shown around."

Danny levelled an unimpressed look on the boy. "Have you worked in this hospital before?"

Yakushi hesitated. "… Not insomuch…"

"Have you worked in _any_ hospital before?"

This time, Yakushi bristled. "I've treated my teammates before, and I'll have you know the training is quite—"

"I'm not trying to upset you." Danny interrupted, despite the fact that his last question had been edging on condescending. "All I'm saying is that there are certain rules and procedures that are followed in a hospital that you may not have learned while in the field. Whatever you might think of me, I'm sure that it'll be _helpful_ to learn where the linens are kept separate from the scalpels, rather than finding that out on your own."

Yakushi was silent for a long moment. Then just as Danny thought the boy was going to rebuff him, a strange expression seemed to enter the boy's eyes and Yakushi's lips curled in a ghost of a smile.

"Very well, Fenton Danny. Lead the way."

Danny made an effort to give his tour of the hospital as quickly and as efficiently as he could. His earlier curiosity with the boy had been largely quashed by the boy's elitist attitude and also his overall _oddness._ He could hear Yakushi humming and agreeing when he showed him things but couldn't quite shake the feeling that Yakushi was spending more time looking at _him_ instead of the hospital.

As they rounded a corner, Danny was stopped by one of the junior medic-nins.

"Danny! I was hoping to run into you! I've got a lot of… things to do this afternoon. I was wondering if you could maybe take care of completing the rounds of the patients on the forth floor? You're good at that sort of stuff anyway."

Recognizing the compliment for what is was—an effort to shove off work onto him—Danny nevertheless nodded in acceptance.

"That's great! You're always so helpful." The ninja grinned and then disappeared down the hall without another word.

This event happened three more times with three different ninja before Yakushi spoke up.

"You know they're _using_ you." The boy intoned dryly.

Danny turned and frowned at the self-important smirk Yakushi was wearing. "And?" Danny challenged. "Why would that matter to you?"

Yakushi shrugged. "It's pitiable, when the doormat doesn't even realize it's a doormat."

Danny couldn't resist the urge to roll his eyes. "I know what they're doing."

"Even worse." Yakushi's eyes narrowed briefly before returning to their normal aloofness. "Then you're putting yourself under their feet."

"Look." Danny let out a sigh and rubbed a finger across the ridge of an eyebrow before raising his hand to card his fingers through his hair. "We don't know each other so my life really shouldn't be any of your business but if you haven't noticed, I _work_ here. It's my job to look after patients and to learn how to help people get better. If other people don't want to do their jobs then that's on them. But on my part, I'm going to do my best to make sure this hospital runs smoothly."

"Even if you get no personal gain from doing the jobs of other imbeciles?" Yakushi commented.

"Hey, there's something to learn in any task. Even the boring ones." Danny said honestly.

"Hmm…" Yakushi hummed. "I disagree."

"You're allowed to." Danny shrugged.

They continued their tour and Yakushi was completely silent until they reached the rooftops.

"We hang the laundry out here. Not much else going on up here." Danny said as he gestured at the lines of linens. "If you ever need any help and you can't find me then I'm probably up here."

"Doing laundry? More work skivved off on you by others?" Yakushi asked sardonically.

Danny was about to reply when the other spoke again.

"Where do you live?" Yakushi asked abruptly. Danny turned and saw that Yakushi was watching him with an odd, penetrating expression. "I haven't seen you around the Orphanage."

"Konoha has an _Orphanage_?" Danny blinked.

"Of course."

"Really?"

Yakushi scowled. It was the first real expression Danny had seen on the boy's face all day. "Yes. I should know. I live there."

' _Then why don't Naruto and Sasuke?'_ Danny wondered. _'And_ _ **me**_ _?'_

Danny shook his head. "I didn't even know there was an orphanage. I live in a small apartment. I pay for it with the earnings from this job." He held off from mentioning the Hokage's stipend, sensing that it would not be a wise thing to bring up.

Yakushi tsked. "You are lucky."

"Eh…" Danny let his head tilt to the side. "Depends on your point of view. Living alone has it's own issues."

"It also has _freedoms_." Yakushi's expression was bright, his teeth were bared and for a moment he looked _dangerous_. Danny stiffened and was considering the emptiness of the rooftop when Yakushi's expression abruptly schooled itself back into neutrality.

"Forgive me." The boy said, but offered no explanation. Then, an odd smile stole across his face and he looked at Danny. "It's no matter. If everything proceeds as planned, then soon I'll have my freedom."

"Huh?" Danny felt like he'd been left behind in the conversation. "You mean you're going to move out of the Orphanage?"

Yakushi chuckled. "I mean so much more than that. You… You've been quite interesting… _Of_ interest, even. Maybe even to others, yes?" Yakushi drew closer and placed a hand on Danny's stiff shoulder. He leaned close into Danny's personal space. "Perhaps when it's time, I'll let you come with me." Yakushi flashed Danny an unsettling grin then in a quick movement he took his hand off Danny's shoulder and turned away.

"I look forward to working with you." Yakushi drawled as he exited the rooftop.

Left tense and uneasy by the weird encounter, Danny huffed and ran his nails roughly over the back of his head, as though to scratch a phantom itch.

Deciding that mulling over the incident was going to do him no good. Danny shook his head, put Yakushi out of his mind and went back to work.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"You know, you heal surprisingly quickly for someone who resists chakra treatments." Shizune told him later that day as she unwrapped the bandages on his chest. "You don't need these anymore."

"Yeah, I've heard someone say that before. What does that mean? Is it really such a big deal?" Danny asked as he tugged down his shirt.

"Well, personally, I've never encountered it before. It might not have been a big deal on its own, but factoring in that no one seems to be able to sense any chakra within you it's actually kind of alarming."

Danny raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Every living cell has some degree of chakra. We, ninja, train to be able to mould and manipulate this chakra to our needs. This makes our chakra more active. Civilians, like you, can't manipulate your chakra. It's latent, but it's still _there_. When I look at you I don't see any chakra, latent or active. And that shouldn't be possible. Unless you're dead."

The look she was giving him suggested that she was actually considering this and Danny blinked rapidly. "Uh… well… I'm not, y'know. Dead, that is." He told her and put a hand to the back of his neck as he laughed nervously.

"Hm… So it would seem." She hummed.

"Oh… oh!" Danny snapped his fingers and looked up at Shizune with sudden understanding in his eyes. "So _that's_ how the Hokage knew I'd stitched up that man!"

"What?" Shizune blinked at Danny, bemused.

"That day—when you gave me this job. The Hokage noticed I'd stitched up that one patient. I always wondered how he knew it was me. I thought it was because my stitching job was bad but… you guys don't use stitches!"

Shizune's lips quirked upward and her eyes were wry. "Well. Yes. We don't use stitches here. But Danny…"

Danny raised an eyebrow and Shizune's smirk grew into a grin.

"Your stitching job really _was_ terrible."

"Oie!"

Hours later, Danny was sitting at his desk, staring blankly at the pages of the book before him as his chin rested on the heels of his palms. Naruto—off on some kind of mischievous mission—wouldn't be coming by today and Danny was surprised at how much he missed the kid's presence. In a very short period of time he'd gotten very used to having Naruto around. The kid was loud and hyperactive and insistent and annoying.

He liked having Naruto around.

He didn't want to go back to what he'd been before.

The loneliness stretched, oceanic, before him. Deep, dark, bottomless.

" _Itachi…_ "

Danny stirred, inhaling and raising his head off his hands. Sasuke's face was scrunched in a pained frown. Danny sighed and prepared himself for another fit. He stood and prepared to hold the boy down.

" _Itachi… No. Mom, Dad…"_ Sasuke shook his head and Danny quirked an eyebrow at the new vocabulary.

Abruptly, Sasuke's eyes snapped open and scanned the room wildly before fixing on Danny.

The boy's scream of fear startled a shocked outcry from Danny himself.

Sheer surprise kept Danny from reacting soon enough. Sasuke scrambled backward on shaking limbs and tumbled off the bed, taking the sheets with him. Seeing the boy tumble out of view snapped Danny out of his stupor. He scrambled around the bed and saw Sasuke wildly kicking the sheets off himself before pushing to his feet.

" _No!_ " The boy was still screaming, white face frozen in fear and not quite looking at Danny. "No!Get _away! Itachi! Why? Mom, Dad! No!_ "

Hands raised indecisively, Danny was momentarily paralyzed. But when Sasuke's wild eyes landed on the window, Danny reacted instantly, leaping forward even as Sasuke lunged. Danny tackled the boy around the middle and they both belly flopped to the ground.

The child struggled with surprising strength, but Danny wrapped his arms around the small body and hugged him close.

By the time the medic-nins arrived, Sasuke had crumbled. He still fought Danny's hold, but his screams had turned to broken sobs.

Sasuke's last words, a bare whisper of breath before they were pulled apart by the hospital staff, left a pit of ill ease in Danny's stomach:

"Why did you do it? Why? _... Itachi…"_

As they put Sasuke back on the bed, people with glowing eyes and glowing hands approached. Danny stayed well out of the way, watching from a non-obtrusive corner of the room, but he couldn't help noticing the way Sasuke shied away from the hands, eyes wide with alarm and fright as he stared at the masked medical-ninja.

Questions began floating around about calling the Hokage. But whatever adrenaline had been keeping the boy moving was running out. Sasuke was flagging even before a messenger was sent for the Hokage. By the time the Hokage arrived with Danzo in tow, Sasuke was unconscious again.

"When do you think he will wake up again?" The Hokage asked calmly.

"I don't know. Maybe a few hours. Now that he's woken up the worst is over. He's sleeping properly now." Shizune said.

"Sleeping? Then you can wake him up?" Danzo demanded.

"No!" Shizune looked appalled at the idea. "We don't even know whether he's suffering from any brain damage."

"This would have been easier if we had Tsunade here, instead of her little apprentice." Danzo sneered and Shizune flushed.

"Enough." The Hokage decided. "We will wait for him to wake. Please send for me when he does."

Danzo swept to the side with an angry gesture. Then, his eyes found Danny.

"What is _he_ doing here?" The man exclaimed with a snarl. Having found the perfect outlet for his anger he pointed aggressively at Danny, who stayed carefully quiet and still. "There were healers in here! What did the foreigner see?"

"He saw everything." Shizune answered evenly. "He already knows."

" _What_ does he know?"

"About chakra. About who we are. "

"You told this—this _white_ devil—all this?" Danzo turned his burning glare on her. "Your uselessness is compounding."

"Hey—it's not her fault!" Danny abruptly defended, stepping forward. Danzo could say whatever he wanted to him, but Danny would not stand by and let the councilman insult Shizune.

When Danzo turned that black, dangerous look on Danny, the teen responded by straightening his spine and narrowing his eyes. He felt Shizune's eyes on him and his resolve turned steely. Forget ghost powers, this was _him,_ Danny Fenton, and he did not need the ghost to stand up for his friends.

"I found out on my own." Danny continued. "Honestly with the number of people hopping from rooftop to rooftop in this village and tossing knives everywhere it was only a matter of time before I figured out _something_ was going on. What kind of idiot to you take me for?"

"The kind who doesn't know when to keep his mouth _shut_ and his nose _out_ of things that don't concern him." Danzo hissed dangerously. He advanced on Danny and the teen had to grit down on the urge to back away. There was just something really, really _off_ about this man.

"Danzo." The Hokage warned quietly and the man scoffed before turning sharply.

"You recall, _Hokage,_ what comes from inviting foreigners into our village? What happens when we turn soft and allow them to eat our food and learn from our teachers? You remember _Oorchimaru_?"

 _Oorchimaru?_ Feeling that this name was somehow important, Danny tried to commit it to memory.

"I understand your concern, _Councilman_ Danzo. However, there is a danger in presuming the exception to be the rule. Our village was founded by nomads and immigrant, if you recall." The Hokage stated in a slow, even tone.

Danzo's lip curled. "Fine, Hokage. But if this boy is a spy—if he ever leaks information about Konohagakure to anyone outside the village—"

"Then he knows that his life will be forfeit. Right, Danny?"

Danny swallowed at the calm way the Hokage said that. The man could have been talking about going out for afternoon tea, not making conditions on the continuation of his life. Nevertheless, Danny's expression didn't waver as he nodded.

"I understand."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Sasuke's sudden awakening marked the end of Danny's vigil at the boy's bedside. In the days that followed, Sasuke's room was the host of a constant contingent of councilmen. Danny, though firmly barred from the room, loitered in the adjacent hallway and was the recipient of many unfriendly stares as he stood and watched the many old men gather to question a traumatized eight-year-old.

"Don't you have other duties you can be attending to?" Shizune eventually asked him.

Danny stood, leaning against the wall opposite Sasuke's door, with his arms folded. "No." He answered shortly. "My job's supposed to be looking after him, remember?"

" _Danny…"_ Shizune heaved a sigh and ran her hands over her face, then smoothed out her hair. As Sasuke's main healer, she was the one who had to field the endless string of questions from the Council and her posture was tired, her eyes showing her frayed nerves.

Feeling guilty for causing her extra stress, he lowered his arms and did his best to soften his frown. "I'm sorry. But he only _just_ woke up. He hasn't even had time to… to process… And they're all in there _crowding_ around. They're going to frighten him. They _are_ frightening him. Everyone else has had time to come to terms with what happened to his family. _He_ hasn't. And it's _his_ family! The Council is supposed to be made up of these wise people, but they're all acting so selfish!"

Shizune considered him and Danny met her gaze evenly.

"You're speaking from experience, aren't you?" She asked. She didn't wait for his response before continuing. "Listen, I know you're worried, but there really is nothing you can do for him now."

"I can't just abandon him!"

"It doesn't matter what you want. The Council wants to get certain information from him and they aren't going to let you near him while they do that. If you try to interfere they will toss you out of Konoha, or worse. Then what good will you be to him? And what about Naruto? I've seen that kid around you, Danny. He'd be heartbroken if you disappeared."

Danny was silent, his mouth set in a stubborn line.

Shizune tsked. "Fine. Then how about this: I promise you I'll look out for him the best I can. Do you trust me to do that?"

He wavered. "More than you normally do? I know you're attentive, but you'll take extra care of Sasuke?"

Shizune nodded. "I promise."

Danny blew out a breath, hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. Thank you…"

"Good." Shizune looked relieved, then she smiled at him. "Now, you look beat. Why don't you take a couple of days off, go hang out with your little sidekick? You know you're not doing any good around here—not for you, not for me and not for Sasuke. I think the Council will be more willing to ease up on their restrictions if you're not around, too."

It took some more convincing, but Danny did eventually leave the hospital, after extracting another promise from Shizune to let him know of any changes to Sasuke's condition.

"Yes, yes. I promise to let you know if he so much as lets out a sneeze. Now go. Go out. Go… explore Konoha or something. You haven't really had the chance to do that yet, right? Go get some dango or something. My friend, Anko, loves this little store…"

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

The next morning, Danny took Shizune's advice and tracked down Naruto, who was loitering near the ramen stall. The kid was only too happy to spend the day with him, immediately suggesting that they go fishing, as it seemed like Ichiraku Ramen was going to be closed for the day.

An hour later, the two were padding through the leafy underbrush at the outskirts of Konoha. Danny was intrigued, having never wandered this far from the central village.

"Are we supposed to be fishing here?" Danny was unsure as he cast his gaze around at the forested brook, one arm hooked over the two bamboo fishing rods resting on his shoulder. Idly, he wondered if he was breaking his promise to the Council to not venture out of the village.

"Nope." Naruto chirped, hopping down the uneven ground to the water. Arms outstretched at his sides, Naruto bent at the hips and observed the fish snaking through the clear water. "But if no one knows, then it's not really like we're doing anything wrong, right?"

"Hmm…" Danny wasn't impressed by this logic; but he didn't feel like getting into a moral debate with the kid so he let it go.

They sat at the lip of the brook. Danny handed Naruto one of the fishing rods and they settled down to wait. Danny rooted around for a reed to chew on and, upon finding a sizable one, slid it between his teeth and lay back, closing his eyes.

"Soooo…" Naruto's voice came from above him.

Danny cracked an eye open and saw that Naruto was watching him expectantly.

"Yeah?" Danny responded.

The boy grinned at him sheepishly and shrugged. "I… dunno."

Danny slanted a crooked smile on the boy. He knew that tactic, having occasionally found himself using it on Shizune. It was a loneliness thing. After having spent so much time in silence with oneself, it was a thrill to have someone else around to talk with, even if there was really nothing that needed saying.

It also hinted at a depressing eagerness to indulge in the luxury of willing company, for fear that it'd disappear as unexpectedly as it came.

Sitting up, the teen cast his eyes around at the peaceful, leafy scenery. It was a nice spot. Peaceful.

"Do you come here often?" He asked Naruto.

The boy's nose scrunched. "Sometimes… when I get tired of having ramen."

"You? Tired of ramen?" Danny grinned teasingly at the kid. "I didn't think that was possible."

"Well sometimes I like to have something different!" Naruto said somewhat defensively. "And fish is so expensive to buy!"

Danny's smile fell at that and he turned his gaze forward.

Fish was not expensive. In fact it was one of the cheaper foods in Konoha. Red meat was expensive to buy, since the village itself didn't have much livestock to speak of. He hadn't had a decent steak in forever and just the thought of one made his mouth water. But fish? Fish was plentiful in a village close enough to the sea to have seagulls. Fish, rice and noodles were the poor man's diet and if Naruto found fish too expensive then it could only be because the vendors were deliberately raising the prices for the kid.

Those deceitful, vindictive, malicious, self-centred, bigoted—!

"Um… Danny?" Naruto was looking at him worriedly. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Huh?" Danny snapped out of his dark thoughts. "Oh, no… no. It's nothing. I was just… thinking. Were you saying something?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "I was wondering if you could tell me a story or something?"

Danny hummed. "I don't really know any good stories…"

"Oh come on! Something about your family? You have a family, right? I mean, you live alone in Konoha but you're from far away…" Naruto spoke eagerly and his words caused a sharp pain to rise in Danny's throat. There was something about the boy's starving puppy-dog expression that made him relent though and instead of rebuffing the kid, he scoured his mind for a memory.

Soon enough, Danny found himself launching into a tale of a road trip his family had once taken to his Aunt Alicia's.

"So my Aunt Alicia lives out in the middle of nowhere. No, really, when I say nowhere I mean if you ran out of gas on the road you'd have better luck joining a pack of wolves and hunting than you would waiting for someone else to drive on by."

"Drive?" Naruto wondered. "What, like a horse?"

Danny goggled. Then, with a rueful smile he rubbed at his eyes. "Heh… hm… well, okay. Sure. I guess that works. Anyway. The village—if you can call a cluster of three cabins a 'village'…s'more like a campsite—is called 'Spittoon' and… wow, kid, when you were two you probably had more teeth than most of the men there. Anyway… me, my Dad and my sister were out fishing once…"

What followed was a short anecdote of how his father had tried to teach him and Jazz how to fish. It hadn't been effective, especially since Jazz had staunchly refused to touch the worms and their Father had been terrible at fishing.

"So my Dad lifts the rod over his head and throws the line forward—" Danny demonstrated by arcing his arm high over his head. "And somehow the line catches on my sister's toy and pulls it out of her hands and it flew aaaaall the way and _splash!_ into the lake. Now, that's my sister's most favourite toy so what does she do? She goes running right into the lake right after it. She finds it and pulls it up… and dangling off its head is the biggest fish we'd seen all day." Danny grinned in remembrance of the many teasing comments of 'Bearbert FishHead'.

"Now Dad was yelling at my sister to 'Grab the Fish!' but she was shaking her head and what does my Dad do? He goes running right into the lake to grab the fish himself. He doesn't make it far before he slips and takes a header into the water. He comes up and _dives_ for my sister's toy—they _both_ go under. By now my Mom has come out of the cabin and is yelling at them both… Anyway. Dad comes up, the soft toy choked between his hands and… and the fish is gone."

Naruto let out a sound of sympathy. But Danny was still smiling. This story had a happy ending.

"So my sister and Dad come sloshing out of the water, soaked, and Mom is not happy at all. When they get out Mom realizes that my sister's fishing line—she'd stuck the rod between a couple of rocks when she ran into the lake, you see—was pulling tight. So Mom reaches out, calm as can be, and guess what she reels in?"

"The fish?" Naruto guessed incredulously. Danny gave an emphatic nod and pointed at the boy.

" _The fish!_ Needless to say we ate well that night, but Jazz, my sister, never ever went fishing with my Dad again."

Danny laughed as he finished that story. It was one that he really enjoyed telling: it had nothing to do with ghosts and it was well before his family had begun to drift apart: first as Jazz got older and then when Danny gained ghost powers. _Especially_ when Danny got his ghost powers. It had been so much _fun_ , that trip. He remembered them all getting along, the sound of their laughter and how warm and safe he'd felt…

"Danny… are you crying?" Naruto asked him quietly.

Danny raised a hand to his cheek and found it wet. His hiccupped—it came out more as a choked sob.

Naruto didn't say anything, but he put his fishing rod down and padded over to Danny. He hesitated only briefly before raising his hands and putting his arms around Danny, pillowing his head on the elder's chest.

Danny's arms encircled the boy as he returned the hug. Naruto was sad because Danny was sad and the innocence of that emotion arose a surge of sudden affection within him.

' _God help this child.'_ Danny closed his eyes. ' _I'm starting to care again.'_

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

A few days later Danny was on his last day of paid leave from the hospital. The afternoon was hot and sunny and Danny and Naruto had decided to wander down the streets. They were currently exploring a part of Konoha that Danny had, until then, never visited.

A long wall traced one side of the road they were walking on. Solid and tall, it effectively blocked anyone from seeing what was passed it.

"That's the Hyuuga compound." Naruto informed him quietly. "It's where the Hyuuga clan lives."

The Hyuuga… Danny had heard of that family…

Danny looked down at the blond-haired kid. "What, like the Uchiha compound?" Just speaking the name of that place caused a shiver to run down Danny's spine.

Naruto shrugged, unaffected. "Yeah, I guess. I think this one's smaller, though."

"Huh… Is it normal? For families to all… live together in the same group of houses?"

"Um, I don't think so. But they're special. The whole family are all ninja, dattebayo!"

" _All_ of them?" So the Hyuugas were all ninjas? Danny wondered if they were in charge of some sort of governmental function, similar to how the Uchiha had been Konoha's police force. "Actually, come to think of it, _has_ anyone taking over the police force with the Uchiha gone?"

Naruto shrugged again and did not answer. Clearly, such things were beyond the care of an eight-year old.

As they turned a corner, the wall cut away from them and Danny noticed that they seemed to have arrived near the entrance to the compound.

And, from the crowd of people gathering near the entryway, there seemed to be something going on.

Danny's ears perked as a few words of gossip floated around him.

"That's him, isn't it?"

"The Uchiha survivor?"

Danny's steps faltered. Naruto looked up at him then frowned at the wall of gossipers.

Danny was confused. Sasuke had been released from the hospital? Shizune hadn't told him this.

Around them, the people continued to talk.

"Did he come from the Hyuuga house?"

"No, they just came out to talk with him."

"He's pretty small."

"It's strange isn't it? That the whole family was killed and he's the only one who survived…"

"What do think? That he was left alive for a reason?"

"Well, there must be a reason."

"He is a strange one though – you know the Hokage and the Council interrogated him for hours and he didn't say a thing…"

Somehow, even while the passerbyes spread suspicion about one newly-orphaned boy, they still found the time and spare energy to send Naruto cold, unfriendly looks, giving him a large berth as they walked by.

Naruto, in response, bared his teeth in a too-wide grin and went out of his way to purposefully stagger into people.

After a couple of minutes of this, Danny reached out and took Naruto's hand. "Don't incite them. Misbehaving only confirms in their minds all the bad things they think about you. You're better than that. Have pride in yourself."

Naruto actually stumbled, gaping for a moment at the hand encircling his. Then, he beamed, tightened his hold on Danny's hand. Any further degradation from passerbyes was met with a turned cheek as Naruto held his nose high in the air.

Danny smiled down at the kid. But as they passed the entrance to the Hyuuga compound that smile fell as he saw Sasuke standing in front of a large house. A tall man with long hair stood in front of Sasuke, staring down at the kid.

Though the elder man was stern and solemn, Sasuke stared back up into the man's eyes with apparent ease.

"That's Hyuuga Hiashi." Naruto informed Danny. "He's head of the Hyuuga clan."

In terms of imposing statures, Hyuuga Hiashi, Danny thought, had nothing on Uchiha Fugaku.

Danny loitered in the entryway to the compound. When Naruto understood what he was doing, the boy nodded and craftily bent to fiddle with his sandals.

The teen cocked his head. He could just hear the words exchanged.

"Though distant, you are a relative of the Hyuuga." Hiashi spoke gravely to Sasuke. "In light of this connection, I have called you here to express my condolences at the passing of your family. However, I am confidant that you, as an Uchiha of pure blood, will work hard to restore honour and glory to your family name. This is your duty, as the last living member of your clan."

Danny thought those words were not only pretty harsh but lay a stupidly heavy burden on the shoulders of an eight-year-old.

"Take this gift, as a gesture of the continuing goodwill between our families." The man said and passed something to the boy.

"Be well." Hiashi finished, clearly dismissing Sasuke from the premises.

Danny blinked, watched as the two bowed to each other, and he quickly retreated away from the entryway. Naruto straightened and looked at Danny questioningly. The teen gestured with his chin and motioned for Naruto to wait.

When Sasuke emerged, Danny took in his appearance. It had been two weeks since Sasuke had awoken and one week since Danny had had the opportunity to study him closely.

Sasuke looked ill. Dried out. There were dark bags under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't been eating. The item in his hands looked like a package of food. Likely homemade.

Danny wondered why the Hyuugas hadn't simply invited Sasuke in for dinner.

As Sasuke walked away, another boy, slightly older and also with long, brown hair, emerged.

"That's Hyuuga Neji." A voice murmured near Danny. "I heard he's a prodigy. The most promising candidate in his year."

"Oi, Uchiha." Neji called.

Sasuke turned.

"Why did you come here?" The boy blinked his strange white eyes—a trademark of the Hyuuga clan. "Was it because you expected acceptance? For the Hyuuga to take you in?"

Sasuke was silent, an empty look on his face.

"You should have saved yourself the journey." The Hyuuga boy informed him calmly before suddenly frowning. "We may share a common ancestor but you will never be one of us. Frankly, you're a bother. That Kekkei Genkai of yours? Once you activate it there will be ninjas across the five nations looking to steal it from you. We are Hyuuga and we have no use for your Sharingan, which is only a poor bastardization of the Byakugan. So you want to know why none of us will take you in? It's because you are more trouble than you'll ever be worth." Neji's words were harsh, tongue cutting as sharply as a knife.

Danny was shocked by the seemingly unwarranted vitriol spouting from the boy. Before he could do anything though, Naruto was leaping forward.

"Hey! Y-you shut up about him!" Naruto interspersed himself between Sasuke and the Hyuuga. The latter looked taken aback. Danny thought he even saw a ripple in Sasuke's dead expression. "He's worth more trouble than you'll ever be—double!"

Seeing that Neji was gearing up to deliver another verbal smack in the face, Danny stepped in.

"If that was supposed to be a warning," Danny commented to the Hyuuga boy with a bland tone. "You could have been a lot less callous about it."

Neji shot him a sharp glare. "What do you know about anything, _foreigner_? I have nothing to warn him about."

Danny felt both Naruto and Sasuke's eyes on him but kept his gaze evenly on Neji. It was surprising the secrets one could pick up on while working at a hospital. Danny knew of the Hyuugas: had heard about their strength, both politically and as ninjas. He had also seen, quite notably, the number of Hyuugas who came in complaining of headaches. He'd seen the strange tattoo—the one that graced the foreheads of the majority, but not all, of the family members…

…That graced the forehead of the boy before him.

"In a family that has no problem subjugating each other, an outsider would be even more unwelcome, is that it?" Danny asked, making sure that his tone was bland, even as his words were sharp.

The boy pressed his lips into a thin line and didn't answer.

Danny turned away.

"Come on." He called to Naruto and then purposefully made eye contact with Sasuke to indicate that he was included in that statement.

As they walked away from the Hyuuga compound, Sasuke stayed somewhat away from them, looking as though he was confused about why he was following them.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of people assuming I'm an idiot just 'cause I'm a foreigner." Danny said to no one in particular.

"If it makes you feel better, people think I'm an idiot too." Naruto grinned, putting his hands behind his head. "I think it's cause I'm a kid… or 'cause I don't got no family."

That last comment, Danny couldn't help but notice, had Sasuke eyeing Naruto pensively.

"Anyway, you remember me, right? I'm Danny from the hospital." He introduced himself. "This is Naruto."

"We watched you all the time while you were sleeping." Naruto nodded.

"Yes," Danny agreed. "Only it was a lot less creepy than that. We 'looked after' you while you were 'unconscious'."

Sasuke just watched them with a mildly perturbed expression.

"How come you're not saying anything?" Naruto asked, sidling closer to the dark-haired boy.

Sasuke flinched away and Danny reached out to put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"Leave him be." He told the boy, knowing Sasuke's silence was probably more than simple shyness. Danny had heard from Shizune herself the truth behind the rumours of Sasuke's speechlessness. Not a sound had escaped the boy's mouth since that day he'd awoken screaming in the hospital. The Hokage and the Council, including Danzo, had indeed questioned and needled and prodded the boy for information for hours on end and not elicited a single verbal response.

Jazz would've been able to explain it properly—she would have spouted some smart psychobabble and told him exactly what was wrong with Sasuke. Danny didn't grasp the intricacies of the human condition as quickly as his sister had.

But he knew pain when he saw it. He understood the feeling of being shell-shocked—of being mentally incapable of catching up to a world that had suddenly left you behind to take a nosedive off a cliff.

"Where are you staying?" He asked Sasuke with a calm smile. "We'll walk to your home with you, if you want."

Sasuke sent them a cagey look that was neither here nor there, then turned and began walking down the road. Shrugging to each other, Danny and Naruto followed.

They passed an open trashcan and, with a deft flick of a wrist, the Hyuugas' gift went spinning into the garbage.

A part of Danny understood, but he was more surprised by the part of him that was irritated by the blatant waste of food. Weeks of cheap takeout and carefully counted change for groceries had diametrically changed his views on food. He remembered having food fights as a kid, and even that one 'turf-wich' fight he'd started in the cafeteria the very, very first day he'd caught his first ghost.

" _You guys put together 'two' protests in one night?!"_

" _Meat-eaters, Danny! Always ready to fight! And our high-protein diets give us the energy we need to do it quickly."_

" _Ultra-recyclo vegetarians are always ready to protest! And because we don't have to waste time cooking our food, we can move even faster."_

He smiled faintly as he remembered the eternal fight between his two friends. Back then he'd hated the arguing. Hated his constant role as a mediator. It was strange, then, that those memories were some of his fondest.

"I guess you're gonna need dinner too, then." Danny directed the comment at Sasuke's back. When the teen saw the hesitation in the boy's step he sped up to walk at Sasuke's side. Naruto hurried and flanked the Uchiha's other side. Sasuke did a fairly good impression of a startled deer as he looked between them. "C'mon. There's no harm in sharing one meal with us. We promise we'll be good, right Naruto?"

The blond boy grinned in a wholly unconvincing manner.

"All right! It's decided then! Now, one more question: do you eat meat or are you a vegetarian?"

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

After a somewhat awkward meal standing around a nearby street-vendor's stall, Danny had managed to sneak in a quick grocery-shopping trip. It was nothing special—pretty much just the staples: rice, eggs and vegetables—but it was enough for a week's worth of simple meals and not too much of a burden on Danny's light wallet. The teen had a feeling that Sasuke wasn't eating well; while not as thin as Naruto had been when Danny had met him, Sasuke looked like he was trying to survive on Mr. Lancer's cabbage soup diet.

The moon was rising as they finally headed back to wherever Sasuke was calling home.

Holding the brown bag of groceries in the crook of one arm, Danny blinked as he recognized the path they were taking. Sasuke was pushing open a gate on a tall fence and held it open for them to follow.

"Hey, isn't this—? You don't still live—"

Danny's voice abruptly cut off as he stepped foot into the Uchiha compound.

The moment he entered the compound, it seemed like the sounds and bustle of the main street were sucked right out of the air. Danny had to crack his jaw to relieve an odd pressure in his ears. Gooseflesh rose on his bare forearms.

They walked in silent procession. Sasuke led the way down the empty path that ran between two rows of dark houses.

What Danny remembered to be a robust community of people was now soulless. Unswept streets were already beginning to gather dead leaves that picked up and swirled at their feet.

It was a clear, crisp evening. But in the Uchiha compound, there seemed to be an inexplicable hazy fog in the air.

They didn't speak. Even Naruto was oddly hushed at Danny's side. It seemed the entire place was existing on a taunt string.

There were no bodies. But there were signs that the place had recently been the site of some unknown tragedy. Some of the houses bore gaping holes. Plants were uprooted. A pie sat neglected on a windowsill, gathering flies as it turned sour.

Sasuke stepped up on the porch of a large bungalow and Danny inhaled sharply as he remembered the last time he'd visited this house—how different it had seemed then: how bright and alive it had been. How empty it seemed now… As Danny and Naruto stepped up to join Sasuke on the porch a gust of cold wind blew through them, whistling unwelcomingly.

Feeing like a finger of ice had traced down his spine, Danny sharply shivered. He half-expected to see his breath fogging blue in the air. It didn't, but he still cast a wary eye around at the empty streets and tried to peer past the dark window screens.

Not seeing any sign of danger, Danny was still ill at ease. He glanced down at Naruto, realizing that it had probably been a mistake to let the kid come along.

Sasuke had entered his house and was standing there, staring at them behind a door that was only barely open.

Danny turned to look down at Naruto. "Hey kiddo, if you want to head on home—"

Naruto vehemently shook his head. "No. You're going in to make sure Sasuke puts all groceries away, aren't you? Then I'm going with you."

Danny wasn't surprised, but the boy's answer still made him roll his eyes.

"I only do that with you because you insist on leaving food lying around _everywhere_." He didn't continue his mild scolding as they stepped up on the porch.

Seeing that Sasuke was still staring at them indecisively from behind the mostly closed door, Danny sent a soft smile at the boy. "We don't want to impose. Please let us bring in these groceries, then we'll head on our way."

After a long, unblinking look, Sasuke reluctantly opened the door further and stepped back to allow them entry.

Danny stepped inside, followed by Naruto, and together they removed their shoes.

The atmosphere in the house was dark and oppressive and the teen was again shocked at the drastic change that had overcome the house. Where the house had once been impressive and intimidating, now it was foreboding and eerie. He remembered the butler—the aloof servant who'd scoffed so obviously at his cultural unfamiliarity. He remembered Fugaku Uchiha—the inscrutable man who, with a single look, had made him feel as tall as a mouse, and about as insignificant. And he remembered Itachi—the haunted teen with the sharp tongue.

Until now, Danny hadn't truly comprehended that they were all _dead_. It was strange to perceive death touching people not close to him. His own family, friends… his own… It had struck him so strongly. Even Lancer. The pain had been immediate and instantly debilitating. The denial, the anger, the hurt… He'd been incoherent with it. After the explosion, he'd dove headlong into the fire, trying to rescue… But even as Phantom, he hadn't been impervious to the flames. He'd failed to find them, failed even to find their bodies. It hadn't been long before he'd burned both his body and lungs enough that he'd reverted. Then base survival instinct had driven him out of the fire—coughing, heaving and sobbing at his own weakness.

Afterwards, the doctors had told him that the police and emergency personnel had found him trying to re-enter the building for a second time—this time as Fenton, not Phantom. They'd fought and wrestled him onto a stretcher and sedated him. Danny didn't remember any of it.

What he did remember was waking up to see Vlad looking down on him with eyes red from tears and a handkerchief wrung between shaking fingers. He remembered screaming at the man and the resulting fight that had nearly landed them both in hospital beds.

Letting the painful memories fade, Danny looked down at Sasuke, wondering how the boy could bear this so quietly.

Even their footsteps seemed muted as they crossed multiple rooms before coming to the kitchen.

The house was clean of clutter, but dusty. Danny scanned the layout of the bungalow, noticing that even though the house was only one floor built in a square around a courtyard it was still easily much larger than Danny's own house in Amity Park.

With odd detachment, he wondered what had happened to that house. Vlad had told him he'd taken care to preserve everything but there were some things that couldn't be so easily moved: the Ops-Centre, the giant, neon 'Fenton' sign…the Ghost Portal…

Everything had been held in trust for his benefit. But what happened now that he was, for all intents and purposes, dead? Would the Guys in White appropriate the place and his parents' ghost inventions? Would Vlad pull one of his tricks to keep everything for himself?

But Vlad was like him now, wasn't he? When Danny had lost his ghost-half, so had Vlad. So did that mean Vlad no longer _had_ any tricks?

For the first time since he'd arrived in Konoha, Danny recalled the horrifying creature he and Vlad had created through the merging of their ghost-halves. He didn't doubt that it was contained by now, either by Vlad, Valerie, the GiW or all of the above.

Unexpectedly, he felt a spark of concern alight for Vlad. No amount of imagination could conjure up an image of what might have happened after Vlad woke up in the wake of the disaster at his house. With his powers gone, his house decimated and Danny apparently dead, what would Vlad have done?

The howling of the wind outside the windows brought Danny back to the present. A tree was scraping up against the side of the house and he turned to look toward the sound.

Sasuke was watching him silently and Danny sent the boy a sheepish smile.

"Sorry. Spaced out for a moment there." He said by way of explanation as he turned back to the groceries. "This place is a little cold actually. Do you know—"

A crash and a yelp sounded from the adjoining room and both Danny and Sasuke followed the sound to see a very guilty looking Naruto standing over a broken vase.

"I didn't do it!" The blond boy defended himself instantly.

"Naruto!" Danny admonished, then looked down at the sharp gasp that came from behind him.

Sasuke was staring at the shattered vase with a stricken look. Then, in a fraction of a second, his expression turned murderous, lips curling into a snarl as he tackled Naruto bodily.

"Hey!" Danny was taken aback by the sudden violence.

"I didn't do it!" Naruto cried. "I swear! There was this cold wind and—!"

Sasuke, who had come out on top of their brief scuffle, had his fist raised when he froze. His face paled visibly.

"Stop this!" Danny ordered, speaking loudly over the wind outside. He took Sasuke's moment of hesitation to interspace himself between the two boys. He gripped the back of Sasuke's shirt and forcefully yanked him off of Naruto.

Displaying a level of martial skill not usually associated with eight-year-olds, Sasuke twisted under Danny's hold and used the heel of his palm to break the teen's grip before backing away.

Raising his eyebrows, Danny refrained from commenting. Sasuke, it seemed, had suddenly lost interest in them. The boy turned his back as he stood to face the large doors leading into the courtyard.

"Are you okay?" Danny turned to lend a hand to Naruto, who nodded.

"Yeah, but—" The boy cut off as the lights above them flickered with a sharp fizz. "What…?"

"It must be the wind." Danny answered Naruto's unasked question. "It must've knocked over a power line or something."

Again the lights flashed. This time they cut off completely with a sharp crack, leaving them abruptly in the dark.

"Good thing the moon's bright tonight." Danny said quietly, not sure exactly whom he was comforting. The wind was growing stronger; the windows were rattling from the force of it. Another shiver was working its way over his shoulders and he grit his teeth as he exhaled visible fog. "Why is it so _cold_ in here? Sasuke, come away from there. It's not sa—"

Something thumped loudly in the direction of the entrance to the house. Then there was a sharp rapping, as though someone was knocking on the door.

The instant all three pairs of eyes turned in the direction of the knocking, there came a snap of wood splintering behind them and Danny spun around. Letting out an involuntary squeak, he ducked, yanking Naruto down with him, before he even realized what he was dodging.

It was a window screen, he realized belatedly, ripped clean off its frame and sent spinning to break into pieces against the opposite wall.

The gale that ripped through the room made them all flinch. The wind was strong enough to send their hair flying and make them unsteady on their feet. Calligraphy scrolls were torn off the walls and the wooden doorframes rattled alarmingly. The shards of the broken vase were sent skittering across the floor in a dangerous spiral.

" _Strangers!"_

Danny's head came up at the sound of a voice howling in the wind.

A scream tore from his mouth; the horror of the sight before him rendered his mind briefly blank.

A mouth hanging open too wide. Teeth. Colourless translucent skin. Eyeless sockets. Floating. _Thing_.

He didn't have enough time to register any more details before the figure suspended in the wind was swept away.

" _Trespassers!"_

This time it came flying at his head— _bony limbs and a disjointed jaw_ —and Danny threw himself to the side with a yelp. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw there were many more of them swarming into the room on the wind.

"What are you doing?!" Naruto shouted at him. The boy hand one hand held over his eyes, to shield them from his wildly blowing bangs, but otherwise looked wholly unconcerned at the fact that they were being beset by a horde of angry ghosts.

Then, Danny shuddered as a wash of apprehension came over him. His gaze was drawn inexplicably to the fox on Naruto's shoulder. Other than deciding that it was a ghost, he had yet to figure out why the thing was always with Naruto. Truthfully, Danny had more or less ignored the ghost fox as it seemed largely harmless.

For the first time since Danny had noticed the multi-tailed fox, it moved. The tails rippled, fanned outward and Danny counted nine in total. The fox opened its mouth in a wide yawn and then revealed irises of piercing vermillion as it set its narrowed gaze on the writhing vortex above their heads.

The effect was instantaneous; the figures shrank back wailing and hissing.

Danny didn't pause to question it. Taking advantage of the distraction, he lanced across the room and crouched, grabbing Naruto's arms.

"Where's Sasuke?" He demanded.

"I-I don't know. He ran out that way—" Naruto pointed shakily at the open doors leading to the courtyard.

The wailing was starting to sound angry and Danny quickly shifted his grip to Naruto's wrist. "Come on!" He urged, tugging the boy after him as he scrambled to exit the room.

Skidding to a halt on the veranda that encircled the courtyard garden, he quickly spotted the red and white symbol of the Uchiha fan that adorned the back of Sasuke's shirt… clear across the courtyard and facing a large set of double doors. The boy must've walked the wooden path tracing the circumference of the courtyard.

 _Too long_. Danny surmised, and then he hopped off the porch.

"Wha—!" Naruto barely managed a shout of surprised as he was dragged down after the teen by the wrist.

The grass was wet; grit and pebbles snagged on the soles of his bare feet but Danny barely felt it. His plan had been to cut straight through the garden but there was some sort of water feature in the way. It was a pond, set with a stack of stones serving as a waterfall. As he got closer he calculated that he could leap over it. But Naruto was likely too small to make the jump.

He stooped, and in one swift motion swept Naruto's legs up in on arm as the other came under the boy's back.

Naruto was shouting something, but Danny wasn't paying attention. He leapt—

—In that exact moment, the room behind them seemed to explode outward. Wind and debris came blasting against Danny's back, reaching him mid-jump and tossing him forward. Instinctively he closed his eyes and curled around the child in his arms. He cried out as something hit him in the back, then scraped across his arm but his voice was lost in the loud howling of the ghosts that came soaring out into the air above them.

Realizing he was falling, and desperate not to land on the child in his arms, he twisted and managed to hit the floor on his side. He skidded with the force of the impact, then was abruptly stopped as his spine came abruptly into contact with something hard.

He groaned, twitching.

' _Wow. That hurt.'_

"—nny! Danny!" A voice was calling from his arms and he squinted his eyes open.

"Ow…" Blinking, he looked down at Naruto, who was wriggling to free himself from Danny's arms. He let Naruto go and watched the boy stand up. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Naruto said shakily and looked to his side. Following his gaze, Danny saw Sasuke staring at them with wide eyes.

"Huh," Danny blinked as he reoriented himself. He saw that he was laying on the wooden walkway and his back had hit a tall, wide post. The wind must have knocked them right across the courtyard.

He struggled to twist onto his hands and knees, grimacing as first his neck then his back cracked. Getting slammed into things had been considerably easier to bounce back from when he'd had ghost powers.

Speaking of ghosts…

He looked up and felt his arms weaken as he stared at the vortex of ghosts spinning in the air above them. When was the last time he'd seen so many ghosts in one place? There had to be dozens…

"Oh come _on,_ " Danny vented, with a dip of the head and a frustrated eye-roll. "You could have sent me _anywhere_ at all: the Bahamas, Europe… an alternate universe where I became friends with Skulker to save the world from a giant meteor… But _nooo,_ you had to go and send me to the one place that's possibly even _crazier_ than Amity Park! _Whyyy?_ What did I ever do to you?" He whined to the absent Clockwork as he sat back and ran a palm over his face.

"Uh… Danny?" Naruto's voice sounded worried.

"This is because I used to collect ghosts and keep them locked in the thermos for a few days, isn't it? I didn't let them go cause they just kept _coming back_! Do you have _any_ idea how annoying it is to get kidnapped by a trigger-happy grease-ball ghost in a tech suit during an exam only to come back and find out everyone _else_ was excused from the exam because _another_ tech-happy, greasy-haired ghost got triggered and decided to take over all the electronic equipment? Of course, then _I_ get in trouble for 'running-out' during the exam and—OW!"

Danny snapped back to the present and stared up at Sasuke in surprise as he put a hand to his stinging cheek.

"Did you just _slap_ me?" Danny asked the dark-haired kid incredulously.

"Danny!" Naruto interrupted him. "The wind's getting stronger!"

"Wha… oh…" He held up a hand to keep his bangs out of his eyes as he gazed up. The vortex was turning into a small tornado that had begun to tear through the garden. "Those ghosts aren't kidding around. We need to get out of here!" He winced as he pushed himself to his feet, realizing for the first time that he had a cut high on his arm that had bled down to his fingers. His legs were wobbly too, but he would have to shake that off.

" _Ghosts?_ What _ghosts?_ " Naruto yelled.

Sasuke was hesitating before the double doors, one hand resting on the frame without pushing it open.

"Come on Sasuke! We need to go! Can we get out through there?" Using his height advantage, he reached over the boy's head and pushed the door open.

Sasuke turned, raising his hands as though to stop them from entering. Danny didn't give him time to protest, pushing quickly into the room. Gesturing for the two boys to follow after. When they were all inside, Danny closed the door.

Silence.

The teen blinked, jerking his hands off the doorframe and then letting them hover there in mid-air. Closing a simple door of wood and paper should _not_ have made it that quiet. Which meant the ghosts had calmed down. But why?

"Uh… uh… Danny?" Naruto's voice wavered.

Turning, the first thing he realized was that there was light in the room coming from two mysteriously lit candles at the far end of the large square room.

The next thing he noticed were the bloodstains staining the wooden floor.

Naruto was staring at the blood with wide eyes as he sidled up to Danny's side.

Now that he was paying attention, he could see more signs of trauma: a screen was ripped, there was a dark splatter across one wall…

Sasuke was standing in the centre of the room, still as stone with his head lowered and his hands clenched into tiny fists.

Abruptly, Danny understood what this place was.

This was where Sasuke's parents died.

"Oh no…" Danny breathed. "We need to get out of here."

The candles blew out.

" _Trespassers."_

There was a creak of wood behind him and Danny could only turn and watch as the doors slowly opened. The wind began to circle him and Naruto. Having a fairly good idea whose ghosts these were, Danny reached down to clasp Naruto's hand in his and then stepped closer to Sasuke.

The dark-haired boy ignored them, lost in his own world, but the ghosts noticed Danny's movement and a low menacing hiss seemed filled the air.

One by one, multiple ghosts began stepping out of the wind, they stood, floating, in a circle surrounding Danny, Naruto and Sasuke.

Now that he could see them closer, Danny was able to discern more details. All their eyes had been gored out of their heads, but many wore the headband designating them to be ninja. Many had similar features. It was the round fan symbol adorning one of the ghosts' shirts that confirmed Danny's suspicions.

" _ **Who are you?**_ _"_ They asked in chorus.

"We—" He was quickly cut off.

" _ **Why do you come here?**_ _"_

"We're friends." Danny answered, trying his best to sound both soothing and trustworthy. "We aren't here to cause any trouble. We—"

"Who are you talking to?!" Naruto questioned him loudly.

" _ **Lies!**_ _"_ The ghosts judged and Danny flinched back as they stepped inward. _"_ _ **We shall not suffer intruders in our home!**_ _"_

Their hands rose into the air and Danny took another step back. Standing in the centre of the circle of ghosts he gathered Naruto close and pulled the non-responsive Sasuke to his side.

It was like standing in the eye of a vortex. Danny felt the winds tugging at him in all directions. Unable to withstand the gale on his feet, he dropped to one knee. Helplessly, he reached inward, calling for the monster that he had cursed so many times. His teeth gnashed together, eyes closing as one hand came up to fist in the material over his heart.

' _Strength… I need strength. To protect Naruto. To protect Sasuke. And… and for me. I… I don't want to die here!'_

In the instant he reached this resolution the wind seemed to taper off. Blinking his eyes open in surprise, Danny half-expected to see his hands covered in white gloves and a glowing green dome over his head. He saw neither of these things, but what he did see was more startling and it took his breath away.

"D-Dad?!" His voice broke over the word.

He barely noticed Sasuke's eyes snapping sharply in his direction or Naruto's concerned touch on his shoulder. All he saw—all he _could_ see—was the semi-translucent, heavy-set man standing protectively over him.

"Danny!" Jack Fenton cried, sparing barely a look over his shoulder. "You need to get out of here. Now! I can't hold them back much longer!"

Danny gaped at his father uncomprehendingly. "DAD!"

"Listen to me, son! You need to get those kids out—these ghosts mean business!" Jack grunted, back-stepping and that was when Danny realized that his father had his hands up in a defensive gesture, almost like he was holding up something. The ghosts were swarming and calling out angrily but were no longer advancing inward. Danny could see there was still a gale swirling around and above, but the wind no longer touched them.

"Dad! Wait! No! You can't—"

"We Fentons are ghost hunters through and through!" Jack managed to look back far enough to send Danny a grin that drove a wrenching pain violently through the teen's heart. "A little bit of weight loss isn't going to stop Jack Fenton!"

Danny laughed deliriously. Only his Dad would call becoming a ghost _a little bit of weight loss_.

Blinking the tears out of his eyes, _'No time for that! Move now; cry later! Later!'_ , He pushed himself to his feet and cast his eyes around the room.

"Sasuke! Is there a fast way to get out of this house?" The pitch-haired child looked at him with a blank, overwhelmed expression and Danny shoved a hand through his hair in impatience. "Come on, Sasuke! _Please! Think!_ A way out! It's not safe here!"

Some understanding must have come to the boy because his dark eyes narrowed then he nodded and pointed to the far end of the room were there was a previously unnoticed door.

"Dad!" Danny called, "The door! Can you get us to the door?"

Jack grunted and gestured for them to keep behind him. Danny reached out his hands to Naruto and Sasuke, making sure they stayed close. Then, with painstaking slowness, they travelled backward, step-by-step as Jack kept them under the shield. The ghosts ever remained just beyond Jack's barrier. Danny shivered as, despite their sightlessness, the eyes of the ghosts seemed to bore straight through him.

Finally reaching the door, Danny swept it open then dropped to his knees before Naruto and Sasuke.

"Go!"

Both boys looked at him uncertainly.

"You need to _go_." He said urgently. He looked at Sasuke. "You'll be safe outside the Uchiha compound. Get there as quickly as you can." He waited long enough for Sasuke to nod and then turned to Naruto. "Stay close to Sasuke. They don't want to hurt him so if you stay close to him you'll be fine." He had no idea if this was actually true but he had to convince Naruto to leave somehow.

"They _who?_ " Naruto protested. "What is going on? Who wants to hurt us? And who do you keep talking to?!"

" _Danny!_ " Jack warned.

Danny shook his head. "I can't explain now. There's no time! Go, go, _go!_ " He practically tossed the boys out.

Naruto turned. "What about—"

" _Go!_ I'm coming!"

He watched them only long enough to make sure they were running, then turned and rose to his feet in the same motion.

"Dad," He said, and it came out more plaintively than he'd intended.

"You need to get out of here too." Jack told him.

He wished the man would turn around. All he could see was his father's back and he wanted to see more. But Jack looked like he was struggling to hold up the barrier.

Danny stepped closer. He needed to see his father's face. "Dad, I—"

"NO!"

He had gotten close, not close enough to touch the barrier, but enough. The ghosts lunged, the barrier cracked like an eggshell and Danny was thrown backwards by something he couldn't see. His injured back hit the wall and he gasped as stars exploded before his eyes.

"DANNY!"

There was a flash of light, then wind and loud wailing. Danny, crumpled to the floor, head spinning, couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. One moment the ghosts were converging on his father and then a flash of light burst through the room. Suddenly the ghosts were fleeing, through the walls, the ceiling, crying out in anguish, they fled.

"Son…"

Danny pushed himself up on his elbows, saw the red blood running down his shaking arm and ignored it as he looked up. Jack was kneeling over him and looking at him in concern.

" _Dad_ …" Danny sniffed, then scrubbed at his face in an effort to wipe away the insistent stinging in his eyes.

"Hey, Dann-o." Jack said with a fond smile.

The teen looked up, drank in his father's features.

There was a keen brightness in the man's eyes. "I can't stay long. Already used up too much energy. Ha! But this power would've been handy fighting ghosts back in the day, eh, son?"

Danny was speechless and Jack grinned.

"Of course, who'm I talking to? Right, _Danny Phantom_?"

"You know!" Danny drew back with a gasp. Quickly, he looked down at himself, only to confirm he was still solid—still _human._ But then, how had his Dad…?

Jack laughed. "Bit difficult to hide things from the dead, you know! But don't look so worried! My son—a ghost hunter and I didn't even know it! I'm so proud of you! I need to make an action figure—TWO action figures!"

 _Proud!_ The word smashed against the wall of blame and denial Danny had heaped against his ghost half.

"But Dad…" Danny lowered his eyes, suddenly breathless. "I-I… I'm not that person anymore… I don't… I don't _have_ that power anymore."

"Oh, don't say that, son. Even without the fancy mojo and old-man hair, you're still doing your best to protect those boys aren't you?"

"I…"

"And _that_ Danny, is because of the strength of your heart." Jack pointed at Danny's chest, then placed a large hand over the teen's much smaller one. "Not the strength of your fists."

Danny closed his eyes. _Almost…_ he could _almost_ imagine the feel of his father's hand over his.

When he opened his eyes, he started forward in alarm. Jack had risen to his feet and was backing away. Quickly, Danny pulled himself to his feet as well.

"No!" He reached out, grasping at thin air.

"I'll be seeing you again, son. But take your time, won't you? We're in no hurry. And your Mom will be sad if you come too soon."

And then, with a parting grin and a wave, Jack Fenton was gone.

Feeling utterly spent, Danny slid to the ground bonelessly. He sat there staring blankly at nothing and it was a long time before he finally lifted his head.

"You are Sasuke's parents aren't you?" He asked the two ghosts floating in the room, the only ones left after the unexplained mass retreat of the ghosts.

"Uchiha Fugaku," He looked at the familiar man then looked at the woman. "And… I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

There was silence, then…

"Sasuke… is our son. Yes." The woman replied.

"You're tied to this place?" Danny asked from his seated position on the floor, possessing neither the will nor the strength to get to his feet. He hardly even raised his head, speaking more to the floor than the deceased couple before him.

"Yes." She continued.

"You frighten him, you know." He said softly, studying the cracks in the wood. "I don't think he can see you—none of the other ninjas seem to be able to see ghosts—but I'm pretty sure he can feel you. And that scares him."

"We just want to look over him—provide what protection we can… as we are…" The woman implored.

"And the others?" Danny did not have to specify which 'others' he meant.

"They are restless… they are greatly disturbed by what has happened." Sasuke's mother spoke with quiet distress. "They too want to protect but have not regained enough of themselves to know how… Though wrongful, we cannot blame them for their heartfelt action."

He wanted to snap, to inform them that _yes they were responsible!_ , but held his tongue. "He needs a place where he can feel safe. Where he won't feel the oppressive weight of his family's guilt and unrest weighing on him, where he can bring _friends_ and not be afraid that something like _this_ will happen."

"We can provide that." Uchiha Fugaku spoke for the first time. Danny's head rose. The man's voice held as must authority in death as it had in life. "While he is here, at home, our son will be safe. He will be protected." The man's voice was grave in a way that would brook no dispute. "We will ensure it."

It was difficult to tell if the man had actually agreed to leave Sasuke, Danny and Naruto be. Sasuke's father's concession hadn't sounded like a concession at all. Abruptly aware of how imperious the ghost of Uchiha Fukgaku was, Danny felt the sudden need to be on his feet. Slowly, mindful of his injuries, he got himself back on his feet.

"We have but one request." Uchiha Fugaku spoke once Danny had regained his footing.

"…Yes?" Danny responded hesitantly.

"We ask that you do not tell our son that you saw us here tonight."

Danny frowned.

"Please," Sasuke's mother beseeched. "It would only cause him pain to know that we are here but cannot appear to him in person. _Please_."

Reluctantly, Danny gave them his word.

Uchiha Fugaku seemed to draw himself up straight. His arms folded, just covering the fatal injury that tore through his chest. Like all the other ghosts, Uchiha Fugaku's eyes had been gouged from his head. Despite this, Danny still felt the heavy, suffocating weight of the man's gaze on him. Danny shifted on his feet. The sight of the man's eyeless face was horrifying, but Danny did his best to keep his gaze steady.

"Once, I turned you away from this house." Uchiha Fugaku intoned in a slow, ponderous voice. "Today, you are welcome."

And that, Danny would have wagered, was likely as much of an apology as anyone had ever gotten from Uchiha Fugaku.

"Thank you." Danny offered a polite, but stiff inclination of his body.

"Your Father… is a fearsome protector." Uchiha Fugaku continued in a low tone. Danny drew in a sharp breath. "You have a strong legacy to uphold, Fenton Danny."

Instead of increasing the burden on Danny's shoulders, those words put steel in his spine and pride in his eyes.

"Yeah." Danny agreed as he watched the ghosts of Sasuke's parents disappear. "Guess I do."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

A while later he found himself re-entering Sasuke's house, followed by two boys, both of whom were fidgeting, each for completely different reasons.

"Don't give me that look." Danny said, shooting a glance at Sasuke's petulant face. "I told you: either you come back to my place or we all spend the night here. There's no way I'm letting you stay here all by yourself tonight."

"So… you said there were _ghosts_?" Naruto blinked widely.

"Yeah. But don't get too excited, kid. They're gone now."

"And only you can see them?"

Danny nodded.

"Why?" This was Naruto's question but Danny noticed Sasuke watching him intensely.

The teen hesitated before giving his answer. "I… don't really know. Back home—where I come from—everyone I knew could see ghosts. But here no one seems to be able to except me. I'm not really sure why."

"You called the ghost 'Dad'" Naruto added tentatively. "… Was it…?"

"Yeah," Danny sighed. "My Dad was there. He was the one holding off the wind."

"You said something to him. But I didn't understand…" Naruto shook his head in confusion.

"Huh?" Danny looked at the blond boy with weary confusion.

"You… weren't speaking Japanese."

Danny blinked. Then, lethargically, the gears in his head started working. English. He'd spoken to his father in English…

"Oh…" Was Danny's only verbal response to Naruto.

Sasuke was staring at him. When Danny met his gaze the boy opened his mouth, hesitated, then closed it, looking away in obvious frustration as a flush spread over his cheeks.

Already knowing what Sasuke wanted to ask, it felt unnecessarily cruel to force the child to speak the question. _'Crueller than lying to him?'_ "I… I'm sorry, Sasuke. I didn't… didn't see your parents." Anyone who knew Danny even a whit would have been able to see through the lie. He stuttered and wrung his hands and pointedly averted his gaze as he spoke.

But Sasuke didn't see through the deception and the boy nodded, small shoulders drooping.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"Oo! Do you have any food for breakfast? I don't like eggs much and it's too early for ramen but buns would be nice!"

Danny, hearing Naruto's voice made his way into the kitchen while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Naruto was zipping around Sasuke's kitchen in just his shorts, opening and closing cupboards while Sasuke, fully-dressed, looked on with a highly offended expression.

"Morning," He greeted and both boys turned.

Naruto beamed. "Morning Danny!" He answered, abandoning his hunt for food.

Danny didn't miss the relieved look that flashed across Sasuke's face as Naruto stopped messing with the cupboards. As soon as Naruto turned his back the black-haired boy moved to properly close the cupboards Naruto had left ajar and realign items on the counter that had been jostled.

"I was looking for food—" Naruto began turning back and Sasuke stiffened.

"Actually," Danny interrupted. "Why don't you get ready first? We can pick up something as we go back."

"From that tea place we went to that other time?" Naruto looked excited.

"Sure."

"Okay!" Naruto was gone from the room in a flash.

Left alone, Danny felt Sasuke's eyes on him. When he made to meet the gaze, the boy turned in apparent disinterest, moving to pull out first a bowl then an egg, pre-boiled.

"You can come with us, you know." Danny suggested.

Sasuke shook his head.

A moment of silence passed.

"Has it happened before?" Danny wanted to know. "The whole wind-blowing exploding tornado thing?"

Sasuke paused in his peeling of the eggshell, then shrugged before resuming his actions.

It wasn't difficult to read the message behind that gesture. Danny knew Sasuke hadn't completely been surprised when the supernatural wind picked up the other night, but the violence of the attack had been fully unexpected.

They passed the rest of the time in comfortable silence until Naruto came jogging back, thumping bare feet loudly.

"Ready? Ready?" Naruto practically bounced as he asked.

Danny grinned, getting up. "Yup."

Then Naruto noticed Sasuke's food. "Oh! Why're you eating? Aren't you coming with us?"

Again Sasuke shook his head.

"Awww, c'mon!" Naruto pleaded. He walked up to Sasuke, and didn't seem to notice when the other boy leaned back as he got too close. " _Pleeeeeease?_ It'll be fun!"

Naruto leaned in closer, pinning his best puppy-dog eyes on Sasuke. The Uchiha was starting to look panicked.

Danny shook his head with a smile. "Naruto, it's ok. He already got his food out. If he agrees we can take him out another day, right Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded quickly.

"Aww…" Naruto backed away with a pout "You're coming with us next time though!"

Sasuke left his food to lead them to the front door and watched as they pulled on their shoes.

"So! We're friends now, right?" Naruto asked eagerly and received a blank look from Sasuke.

"Let's go," Danny called, breaking into the conversation before anyone could get offended.

Naruto nodded and exited Sasuke's house. Danny however, remained in the threshold and shared a long look with Sasuke.

"I know it's probably not your first choice, but if something like last night happens again, come find me. I'll do what I can to help. Or even let you just crash at my place." Danny told the boy seriously as he stepped outside.

Sasuke just looked down and, with hardly a flicker in his expression, closed the door.

"Augh! What… what… that guy is so rude! He just closed the door like that! He didn't even answer my question!" Naruto whined as they exited the Uchiha compound.

"Don't take it too hard."

"Why not? He was being a jerk. I just wanted him to come to breakfast… and say we're friends."

"He's wallowing."

"Huh?"

"Grieving." Danny clarified. "It hasn't been that long. He lost his whole family."

"Yeah…" Naruto sounded sullen and he kicked at a stone. Then, more thoughtfully he added, "He does seem kinda sad. And he's not talking at all. I guess it's hard for him."

Danny hummed in agreement. If anything, Sasuke was handling things pretty well. Danny hardly remembered his first month alone. He'd spent most of it sleeping, or lying in a dazed stupor. He didn't even remember eating. It was somewhat surprising that he hadn't completely wasted away. Vlad perhaps did deserve more credit for taking care of him than he'd realized.

"I wonder if we can do anything to cheer him up?" Naruto asked.

Danny looked down at Naruto in some surprise. Here was a kid whose friendship had just been spurned by Sasuke as he still wanted to make the Uchiha feel better. Though an orphan like the rest of them, Naruto seemed to somehow be _more_. More optimistic, more whole. More _alive._

"You know what? Just continue to do what you're doing. You'll win him over eventually. I'm sure of it." Danny said honestly.

' _After all, it worked on me.'_

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"Oh, hey Danny," One of the medic-ninjas greeted him as the teen swept into the hospital locker room. Danny was already shrugging out of his light jacket as he entered the room and quickly shucked off his shoes as he reached his locker. He exchanged the items for an apron and indoor shoes.

"Shizune was looking for you." The ninja, an older man, told Danny. "We thought you might've decided to take off another day, since you were so late coming in."

Danny, face hidden as he leaned over to tug on his shoes, rolled his eyes. He wasn't _that_ late, but at the hospital everyone arrived either on time or not at all, without any exception. Lateness invited gossip and long, disapproving stares—things Danny was beginning to associate with Konoha in general.

"Yeah, I had something important to take care of." Danny said to the man as he stood. "I'll make up the difference tonight."

The ninja favoured Danny with a long, curious stare. "You were out for a few days."

"Shizune gave me some time off." Danny agreed.

The man said nothing more, but continued to stare at Danny expectantly. Realizing the man was fishing for gossip, Danny quickly changed the topic.

"You said Shizune was looking for me?" Danny questioned.

"Yeah, she's probably doing her rounds on the upper floors."

"Ok. Thank you. Have a good day." Danny spoke his quick good-bye and left. He knew full well that he'd probably come off as rude for leaving so quickly but the ninja would probably brush it off as Danny not knowing any better because of his 'foreignness'. People overlooking his cultural missteps was one of the few advantages to being a foreigner.

Danny searched the hospital for Shizune to no avail. Then, on a whim, he took the stairs all the way to the top of the building. He pushed open the door at the top of the staircase to exit out onto the roof of the hospital.

The roof was large and it was a windy day. Someone had done the laundry and hung it up to dry in long rows across the roof. Between the billowing sheets, Danny spotted Shizune's familiar figure. She was leaning against a tall metal duct. Her head was lowered and she was clutching her clipboard to herself. She looked lost in thought.

Danny closed the door behind himself and approached Shizune. She didn't appear to notice him and he walked closer.

"Shizune!" He called as he came closer.

He saw her startle and whirl in his direction. Instinctively, he yelped and ducked, covering his head.

"Danny?" Shizune questioned, cocking her head. "When'd you get here? And…what are you doing?"

Realizing there were no thrown projectiles, heading his way, Danny straightened and shot Shizune a sheepish grin.

"Sorry." He said. "It seems every time I surprise someone in this village I get a knife thrown at me."

"Huh." Shizune looked thoughtful. "Well, your tread is really quiet."

Danny quirked an eyebrow, remembering that Kakashi had said almost the exact same thing. "Okay… I don't get what that means but… aren't you guys supposed to be super-powered ninjas or something?"

"Or something." Shizune responded wryly. "Though it depends on your definition of 'super-powered'."

Danny agreed, thinking back to what had been his normal: ghost powers, ghost-hunting parents, archenemy, dangerous ex-girlfriend…

"But your case is a bit different. I told you about chakra, right? Ninja learn to sense approaching chakra—it's a very basic skill. But you have no chakra and therefore seem to slip by our senses."

"Oh… Ok then. Ninja blind-spots." Danny intoned dismissively. Shizune seemed intrigued, but he wasn't all that interested in learning about chakra. It did explain Kakashi though, and he warned himself to be more careful coming up behind people.

"You wanted to see me?" He asked.

"Yeah…" Shizune sighed, leaning back against the duct. "You should know…Sasuke was released yesterday. I meant to inform you but things were too busy around here."

Danny hummed. Quietly, he was happy to hear this from Shizune. It meant she hadn't been actively hiding Sasuke's release from him.

"He never spoke to the Council, did he?" Danny wondered.

"Not a sound, not since he woke up."

Danny examined Shizune. "You look tired."

She shot him a rueful smile. "Is it that obvious? Well… yeah. The last few weeks have been a bit… overwhelming with Sasuke and the Council and everything. I'm a medic-nin. I heal people. I'm not cut out for this political stuff."

"Political stuff?" Danny echoed.

"They want me to do something. Something I can't do."

"What? Something bad?"

"Not exactly. My… mentor… she lives outside of Konoha. They want me to either bring her here or tell them where she is. But my mentor left Konoha for a reason. She doesn't want to be found. And I can't betray her trust." Shizune looked conflicted. Danny wondered quietly why she was confiding in him, of all people, but didn't ask. Instead he moved to stand next to her and turned to lean on a section of metal railing.

"You told them this?" He said to Shizune, head tilting.

"Of course." Shizune nodded.

"But… couldn't they just relay any message to her through you?" Danny wanted to know.

Shizune chuckled and looked at him. "Danny, you should know by now that Konoha thrives on its secrets. I'm not exactly high enough in the social strata to learn the secrets that my mentor would be privy to."

Danny thought that sounded pretty ridiculous. Wasn't everyone supposed to be on the same side? He knew from experience though, that voicing this opinion would only lose him esteem points in Shizune's eyes and gain him another 'you wouldn't understand because you're not from here' lecture.

"I ran into Sasuke yesterday." Danny said instead. "You know he's still living at the Uchiha Compound."

Shizune sighed. "Danny… what am I supposed to do about that? We already had this discussion about Naruto."

"There's an orphanage here, you said so yourself." Danny pointed out. "One of the new staff lives there, doesn't he? Snobby what's-is-name… Yakushi."

"And _like_ I said, the orphanage is unfortunately poorly funded. The _Daimyo_ —"

"Doesn't even live here, so why does this person get to decide where and why and who to give money?"

"It is the way things are done in Konoha." Shizune said and there was a touch of steel in her tone.

Danny went silent at those words, knowing that was Shizune's way of telling him to stop pushing. His eyes radiated his disapproval.

"Sasuke wouldn't be well-received at an orphanage. His family is too well-known. They would know his family has money. The Hokage will probably arrange for Sasuke to receive some sort allowance until he is old enough to make his own money. His father was also head of the family, which means that they likely had their affairs very well in order. Sasuke might even get access to his inheritance. At least the kid has that. And a home to go back to."

"A home that's filed with the… _memories_ of his family." Danny protested. When he received nothing from Shizune except a tired look, he huffed, pushing a hand through his hair and dropped the matter. "Fine… Fine…" He couldn't help his next comment though. "I still don't get your explanation about Naruto though. Why won't the orphanage at least take him? Sure, he gets that stipend…"

"It's a trust." Shizune said. "The Hokage was given the task of managing Naruto's money until the kid could do so himself. Like I've told you before, the orphanage is reserved for only those who are desperately in need of help."

Danny felt like that was a stupid system. The orphanage was poorly tended to; Naruto was left on his own with a landlady who disliked him and Sasuke was going home every night to a ghost house… No one profited from this arrangement.

But it was unfair to unload this on Shizune. He was taking advantage of her sympathetic ear.

 _But speaking of ghost houses…_

After allowing a moment of quiet, he put voice behind one of the other questions that had been nagging at him.

"Hey, Shizune… what do you think about… ghosts?" He asked tentatively.

Shizune shot him a bizarre look. " _Ghosts_? What are you talking about?"

"I mean…" Danny looked away shiftily. "D'you believe in them?"

Shizune let out a burst of laughter, which she stifled when Danny gave her an annoyed look. "I'm sorry, Danny, but… _ghosts?_ I know you're newly learning about ninja and chakra but you've been spending too much time reading fiction. Ghosts aren't real." Her smile faded. "What happened to the Uchiha family was a tragedy but there are many ninja who die violent deaths and other than post-traumatic stress symptoms, I've yet to hear any reports of people encountering their dead family members or friends."

"Violent?" Danny latched onto that word. Realizing he wasn't going to make any progress asking Shizune about ghosts, he dropped the topic in favour of another point that had him curious.

In the back of his mind, Danny was comparing the ghosts of Sasuke's family to the fox on Naruto's shoulder. There was something… different about the fox. Something that had scared the ghosts. And then, Danny remembered Kakashi's probing look when Danny had mentioned to him the fox on Naruto's shoulder. The man hadn't looked at Danny like the teen was crazy. Instead, he'd seemed tense. Almost intrigued…

Was the multi-tailed fox something different? Something other than a ghost?

Aloud, Danny continued his conversation with Shizune. "So the Uchihas died violently?" This much was obvious, but he wanted to gauge Shizune's reaction to his probing.

Shizune's face turned instantly blank and her lips tightened. She gave him a warning look.

"I saw the place, Shizune. There's still blood on some of the walls. Nothing has been fixed. And despite that, barely anyone talks about what happened except to mention that Sasuke is the last one left. Why isn't there some investigation going on? How come no one is searching for who did this? And why did you tell me not to mention Itach—"

" _Sh!_ " Shizune hushed him loudly. She shot a look around the rooftop, as though paranoid that someone may be listening to their conversation. "Danny. Ok. Listen to me and listen good: _stop asking questions_. I'm serious. To me, to anyone—don't ask questions. Don't bring up the Uchiha Massacre to _anyone_. You never know who could be listening and _trust me_ you do not want to find out what will happen if the Council discovers that you're nosing around this."

Danny was taken aback, "This is murder we're talking about. Who _wouldn't_ be asking questions?"

"Danny." Shizune's expression was grave and she leaned in close as she spoke quietly. "I'm saying that it is dangerous for _you,_ specifically, to ask questions. You're a foreinger. No one knows where you came from or why you're here. Ninja are distrustful conspiracy theorists _at best_. The Council _already_ doesn't like you. Danzo has made it clear he would like nothing better than to toss you out of Konoha. They kept asking questions about you: about your work, whether you ask a lot of questions, what you were doing in the room with Sasuke, what you heard when Sasuke woke up… They're suspicious of your intentions. And add to that is that people have seen you with Naruto _and_ with Sasuke. You're already walking on the edge of a sword. Take it from someone who doesn't want to see you exiled, or worse, and _leave this alone_."

Shizune's words alarmed Danny. He couldn't believe that asking a few questions and hanging out with two children would actually put him in danger of being thrown out of Konoha. _Or worse._

Before he would hardly have cared. But now he had Naruto… and Sasuke, even. He had seen how the villagers despised Naruto. He saw how Sasuke's distant relatives spurned him. He didn't want to leave those kids to fend for themselves.

"But… I'm no one." Danny told Shizune. "Seriously, I've got no plan, no ulterior motives. I just… Naruto's a nice kid. And Sasuke's been through a lot. And Itachi vouched for me. He could have killed me but he didn't."

Shizune's gaze didn't soften.

"I've gotten to know you pretty well, Danny, and I think you're a good person. But in a village where people are trained to see the weakness in others and to question every action, good deeds are rarely taken at face value. Heed my advice and don't advertise that Uchiha Itachi spared your life."

Danny passed a hand over his face as a shiver went through him. He didn't want to believe what Shizune was implying with her words.

' _Itachi? Was he…?'_

He remembered the words Sasuke had murmured days ago in his fevered state.

" _Why did you do it? Why?... Itachi…"_

"Ok. Fine. Just… just let me ask you one more question and then that's it. I won't bring it up again." Danny said and when Shizune didn't answer he took her silence as permission.

"Itachi…" He started, then paused. ' _Did he do it? Did he kill his own family?'_ were the questions circling his mind, but were not the words that left his mouth.

"Is he alive?"

Shizune hesitated, apparently not having expected him to ask that question. Then, with a low exhale, she nodded.

"Yes."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

For a while, Danny was consumed by his work. Taking days off work, even if they were non-optional days off, was apparently just not done in Konoha. Danny had therefore lost some of the esteem he had built in his co-worker's eyes. To recover, he made an effort to stay long hours and even came in on his off day.

Since his conversation with Shizune on the roof, he had realized that he actually _wanted_ to stay in Konoha. That meant he would have to figure a way to slot himself comfortably into society.

It was an old familiar feeling: the desire to prove himself. It was something he hadn't felt in quite some time.

He saw Naruto almost every day and they frequently went for meals together. But it had been more than a week since he had seen hide or hair of Sasuke.

Standing in his own apartment—now moderately furnished with daily appliances and an actual table, chair and bed frame—Danny thought about Sasuke and decided to do something unplanned.

For the first time since he'd lost his family, Danny actually cooked something. It wasn't anything fancier than chicken and rice with some vegetables, but he'd made the rice in chicken broth and seared the vegetables with spices so it was perhaps not sub-par to freshly made street-food. Pausing only to test the taste and not to actually eat, he packed the food into brand new metal tins that he'd picked up on a whim just a few days ago. It was warm enough to walk outside in a t-shirt so he didn't bother grabbing a jacket before leaving his apartment.

As he passed Naruto's closed door he sent it a guilty glance. Really, he didn't want to exclude Naruto, but Sasuke was going to be uncomfortable enough with just Danny dropping by. The teen didn't think Sasuke could handle both Danny's unexpected visit _and_ Naruto.

So he kept walking, letting out only a short sigh.

Almost before he was ready, he found himself standing in front of the entrance to the Uchiha compound. As he crossed the threshold, he felt a chill and a dampening of sound. He swallowed and gazed around at the rows of empty houses. Slowly, he walked up to the central house. The compound was eerie and foggy. The hair on his neck rose as he had the strong sense that he was being watched.

The wind whistled, unfriendly and dangerous.

Danny picked up his pace.

The oppressive atmosphere seemed to ease off as he closed in on Sasuke's house. He wondered if that was the doing of Sasuke's parents.

Taking a breath, he raised a hand to rap on the door.

The door opened before Danny's knuckles could even make contact with the wood.

"Hey," He greeted Sasuke lightly with a smile.

The boy looked at him.

"I made too much food, see?" and Danny held up the tiffin boxes. His smile grew into a lopsided grin. "So I was hoping you might want to help me finish it?"

Sasuke was now frowning.

"Aw, c'mon! I can't finish it all and it'll just go bad if I stash it." That was true enough. Though there was the little point that he'd _planned_ to make too much.

Sasuke relented, and opened the door just enough to let Danny in. The boy hurried to close the door the minute the teen stepped inside—an interesting point Danny took careful notice of. Perhaps Sasuke, too, was sensitive to the haunted atmosphere that seemed to permeate every aspect of the compound with the exception of this house.

They ate in complete silence, Sasuke giving neither an indication that he liked or disliked the food. After they were done, Danny helped clear the dishes, then looked that the boy. "Ok,… I… I should probably…" Then Danny sent Sasuke a sly look. "Unless…"

Sasuke shrugged and, impressively, made a gesture that seemed to simultaneously convey disinterest and still also suggest the room that Danny had previously slept in. Naturally, the gesture was carried out with Sasuke's typically careful aloofness.

"Sure." Danny answered the unasked suggestion with a smile. "I'll stay."

But when it came time for bed, Danny was in Sasuke's doorway, wishing the him goodnight when the kid patted the bed beside him. The boy froze almost immediately after the action, as though his hand had moved without permission.

"You know, I brought one of my books with me and I still want to get some reading done. If you don't mind me taking half the bed, I could stay a little while." Danny did his best to make this suggestion off-handed.

Sasuke didn't answer, but Danny came back with the book anyway.

One hour later, Danny looked down at the boy. Sasuke was on his side, and had never once turned to face him. Danny was pretty sure the boy was still awake, but not certain.

"Do you want me to leave?" he asked quietly and, predictably, got no reply.

So he simply tucked his book under his pillow and leaned back.

Sasuke spent the night with his back studiously facing Danny. But Danny spent it with his eyes trained on Sasuke's back and saw the way the boy's shoulders would tense and stiffen every time Danny stirred from his spot.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Every few days, Danny would visit Sasuke and every time he would come up with a new excuse for visiting: 'I was talking with a friend in the neighbourhood.' 'There's this medicine from the hospital I wanted to drop by for you. But, um… yeah. I guess you don't have chronic migraines, so it's not all that helpful after all…' 'A squirrel bit me and I chased it over here.' The last one gained him a very sardonic raised eyebrow and Danny felt fully accomplished with himself for having drawn that reaction out of the stoic boy.

Mostly, he spent the night to make sure Sasuke's parents were holding up their bargain. Part of him also wanted to keep a close eye on Sasuke. The boy's plight simply struck a strong chord within him. It was easy to guess why.

Generally, the nights were quiet. Uneventful.

Sasuke had gained enough confidence—or pride, rather—to start silently shooing him from his room. Danny took the rejection lightly, moving to the guest room without complaint.

One night Danny awoke to the sound of a piercing scream. By the time he reached Sasuke's room, the boy was on his feet head twitching from side to side like a paranoid bird.

It wasn't the boy that caught Danny's attention, however. Rather, it was the three semi-translucent figures arguing loudly above him.

"You woke him up!" The first, an overweight, balding man, said.

"I didn't mean… oh, he looks so frightened." The second, an elder woman, spoke as she looked at Sasuke in concern.

"I don't know why I let you drag me here. This is such a waste of time!" The last, a young man with long hair, complained with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't say that!" The woman scolded. "He's just a child. And he's the only one of us left."

"He's a brat. And I couldn't care less about him. What I want is his _brother_ , that son of a—"

"Hey, Hey! Enough! Stop that!" Danny called, figuring it was time to intervene.

All eyes in the room swivelled to him, each with the same expression of shock and surprise.

"Who are you?" The balding man asked.

"Forget that," The younger interrupted, swopping down to float in front of Danny. "The hell are you doing here? And how can you see us?"

"I'm a friend of Sasuke's." Danny shot a gaze to the boy, who was looking at him as though he was talking to thin air. Which, Danny realized, was probably exactly what Sasuke was thinking. "He's—"

"You shouldn't be here, kid." The ghostly youth said aggressively, moving closer. Danny swallowed as the wind began to pick up. Sasuke was looking around warily, understanding the danger though not the source of it. "This is _our_ home."

"Look, I just—" Danny started.

"'You just, you just'" The ghost mocked. "I don't _care_ what you ' _just',_ you bloodless little snot-nosed leech." Danny might have found the insult amusing if the doors hadn't started to rattle ominously.

"Wait," The woman reached out a hand. "Maybe there's a reason—"

"Shut-up!" The youth snapped. "Our home is not a tourist attraction! He's a _trespasser!_ "

"I'm not trespassing." Danny said quickly. "Sasuke let me—"

"Sasuke _what?_ " The ghost snarled and with a sharp twist he was bearing down on the eight-year-old. "You little _brat_ , you useless waste of space! You're the only one left alive and you aren't doing _anything._ You aren't trying to hunt him down. All you do is lay around, lazy like a lizard in the sun. You insult the honour of the family. You aren't worth the name Uchiha!"

Sasuke cowered back, almost as though he could sense the ghost's malice.

"Hey! Get away from him!" Danny said and slipped between the ghost and Sasuke and held his arms out.

" _You get out of the way!_ " The ghost yelled.

" _Inabi!_ " One of the other ghosts cried out.

The fist slammed into Danny's temple, snapping his head to the side. He staggered and threw out an arm to stabilize himself, succeeding only in cracking his knuckles on the corner of Sasuke's desk. Hissing from two sources of pain, he recoiled and winced, waiting for his ears to stop ringing.

A sharp inhale, and Sasuke was at his side, looking up at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"What are you doing!? Stop!" The female ghost was yelling and Danny looked up to see his attacker being held back by the other two ghosts.

The old, balding male ghost was staring between Danny and the younger ghost, Inabi. "How did—"

Danny touched the back of one hand to his head, flinching minutely at the angry flare of pain. The skin was already warm. It was going to inflame into a nice bright bruise by tomorrow. At least nothing felt broken. And his hand came away free of blood.

"Yeah, how was that? You better leave this place or my next hit will give you a new view of your spine." Inabi threatened.

Sasuke shifted and Danny blinked as he saw the boy was now standing _in front_ him.

"No don't!" The woman cried as she struggled to hold the angry ghost back. "You might hurt Sasuke!"

Inabi continued to rage. "So what? That worthless brat—"

Danny's patience snapped

"ENOUGH!"

Sauke flinched at the outburst, looking at him as though wondering if the teen was yelling at him. Danny touched the boy's shoulder briefly in a comforting way, but his eyes stayed fixed on the three ghosts as he spoke. "That is _enough_ of your insignificant arguing!"

"Insignificant?!" Inabi seethed.

" _Quiet_." Danny ordered in a chilling tone, pinning the ghost with sharp eyes. He felt a familiar power lacing through his voice: an authority that he had, until now, never used as a human. Surprisingly, the ghost fell silent.

"Do you even realize what your presence is doing to him?" Danny asked gesturing at Sasuke. " _You_ are the ones who shouldn't be here. Your very being is a distortion of nature. You're nothing but shadows: poor, desperate manifestations of post-human consciousness." He heard his mother's voice echoing in his, and suppressed the pressure of pain that brought.

While the balding man and the woman looked at him in confusion, the third, Inabi, who had struck Danny, sneered. "You're not going to sound so smart when I beat you within an inch of your life."

"Oh yeah? What we just established right now wasn't just that you can hit me. It was also that I can hit you _back_." Danny warned.

"You don't stand a change against me, kid." Inabi said cockily.

"Bring it, _Inviso-Bill_." Danny taunted with a crafty smirk. It was fun to be on the other side of that comment.

The ghost visibly bristled. "My name is _not_ …that! I am _Uchiha Inabi_!"

"Whatever you say, ghost boy." Mentally, Danny was taking a catalogue of all the derogative names he'd been called during his career as a notorious half-ghost superhero.

"Shut up you… you—"

"Inabi, maybe the boy is right." The woman spoke quietly. "We should leave."

"You didn't want to be here in the first place, remember?" The balding man added.

Inabi scowled, then roughly jerked backward in the air. "Fine. You want me gone, then I'll leave. Leave you to let this foreigner defile our home. Leave you to talk and simper over our pathetic little _cousin_." He shot an acerbic glare at Sasuke. The boy remained oblivious, standing in a defensive stance, his eyes flickered over the room blindly. Danny was glad for that obliviousness.

Inabi floated down. Danny didn't know the rules of how ghosts worked in this strange ninja village. It seemed like Inabi could touch him, but that had clearly come as a shock to all three ghosts. Did that mean that Inabi couldn't physically touch Sasuke? Danny didn't want to take that chance and stepped closer to Sasuke protectively as the ghost made a slow circle around them. "I suppose I don't need to do anything to you anyway. If Sasuke is anything like his snake-faced _brother_ he'll take care of that all on his own."

"What do you mean by that?" Danny called, but Inabi just laughed and left via the wall.

Danny grit his teeth, the suspicion he'd been harbouring about who had caused the Uchiha clan massacre gnawed at his mind. Looking back at the two remaining ghosts, he knew better than to ask.

"What about you?" He asked, somewhat roughly.

"We…" The woman looked at the man before continuing. "We never meant any harm. We just came to make sure Sasuke was managing ok… We... wanted to make sure that he was taking care of himself. Then… then he woke up, and…"

"I see…" Danny's expression softened. His mind returned to the reason Jazz had given for coming to visit him.

" _Please. Please, Danny…"_ She had begged him. _"Promise me you'll take care of yourself."_

' _Sorry, Jazz… guess I didn't do a good job of listening to you…'_

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"Fenton Danny." He answered promptly, hardly even needing to think before putting his surname first anymore. "And, as your 'friend' so nicely pointed out multiple times, I'm not from town."

The woman gave a quiet laugh. "He is family. Those two words run parallel and don't always interconnect."

"Darling," The man chided mildly. "You shouldn't speak ill of the dead."

"Honey, I think the reasons behind that saying aren't quite applicable to us anymore." The woman responded in exactly the same tone.

Danny blinked, not knowing quite how to respond to the interchange. The gallows humour struck him in a place that was a little too raw. "What are your names?" He asked instead.

"My name is Uchiha Teyaki and this is my wife, Uchiha Uruchi." They gave small bows.

"Ah…" With more confidence than he'd had a month ago, Danny bowed neatly in response, tipping a little lower than the elder couple in front of him.

Then he looked at Sasuke. The poor kid still had his fists raised.

He needed to remember that Sasuke could only hear Danny's side of the conversation.

"It's okay." Danny soothed. "There's no danger. The gh—one that hit me… uhhh…" He'd already forgotten the man's name.

"Inabi." The woman supplied.

"Inabi." Danny nodded, and took in the look of recognition that flashed across Sasuke's face. "He's gone. There are two others here. Um… Teyaki and Uruchi." He managed without needing them to repeat their names, which he was proud of. "Do you know them?"

Sasuke's mouth stayed tightly closed and he nodded. Danny waited for more. Earlier, Sasuke had screamed. The teen had hoped to take that as a breakthrough—that possibly Sasuke might start talking again—but that didn't seem likely anymore as the boy only silently stared at him with a helpless expression.

"We had a small rice cracker store down the road. This little one would come by all the time." The woman told him.

 _Rice crackers?_ Danny arced an eyebrow. They had a whole stall for that?

Misreading the look, Uruchi elaborated. "He's a sweet child, always pushing himself to do better. His kekkei genkai hasn't developed yet so he was self-conscious. He was always comparing himself to his brother…" She trailed off into silence for a while, face acquiring a dejected expression. "He called us 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' but in a way that had more meaning than the traditional formalisms the young use for their elders."

Danny cocked his head.

"It is custom to refer to someone older than yourself as 'Aunt' or 'Uncle'. Family or not." She explained. "But we didn't have children and often felt like Sasuke may well have been our own. Do you understand?"

"Yeah…" Danny shot Sasuke a sad look. "I understand. But you have to understand. This isn't good for him. You…" How could he say this without offending the ghosts and without sounding, to Sasuke, like he was telling the boy's family not to look over him? "It… is unsettling. It's disruptive. If you… If I hadn't…"

"We understand." The man cut Danny off, for which the teen was grateful. "I think from the moment Sasuke woke up screaming, we understood. We just didn't want to admit it."

"This… isn't the place for us anymore." Uruchi agreed. And the couple joined hands.

"Please just tell him that we… no matter how far away we are, we are always watching over him—always wishing for his safety and happiness." She said. "And tell him that… he should not compare himself to his brother. He is already strong, all on his own merit."

As one they faded, until Sasuke and Danny were one again the only occupants of the house.

Danny sighed, releasing the tension in his shoulders. Then, gathering himself, he turned and looked at Sasuke's expectant face.

"They're gone. But… you knew that already, didn't you?"

Slowly, the boy nodded.

"You can't see them but you can sense them?"

Another nod, smaller.

Danny let out another sigh.

* * *

 **:o:**

 **END PART IV**

 **To be continued in PART V – MADDIE**

 **:o:**


	5. PART V - MADDIE

And we're going again!

Part V. Enjoy!

* * *

 **:o:**

 **Ectoplasm and Chakra**

 _When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth was far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply_ ordinary _in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel._

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: _Sholay_

 **:o:**

* * *

 **:o:**

 **PART V – MADDIE**

 **:o:**

* * *

Naruto would say "I'm home" when entering his apartment, Danny noticed. Without fail, every time the boy slid open the door and stepped foot inside, Danny would hear this announcement made to an empty apartment followed by a pause, then a quiet sigh.

It was distressing to hear and, one day, Danny took action.

"Hey!" He called from the entrance of his own apartment, interrupting the kid's moment of depression. "You're late! Why are you getting back so late?"

Naruto blinked at him, looking wholly confused at the thought of something being upset that he was coming home late.

"Uhm… I… I was walking around…"

"Well I was worried! You shouldn't be out this late!" Danny strode up to Naruto as he scolded the boy.

A look of irritation came across Naruto's face: eyebrows scrunching down and nose wrinkling in a way that Danny found more amusing than anything else. He had to momentarily fight to maintain his stern composure. "It's not that big a deal—" Naruto started but Danny interrupted him before he could say more.

"Not a big deal?" Danny repeated with one eyebrow raised. "Do I _need_ to remind you what sorts of crazy fruitloops run around at night?" Just using the word 'fruitloop' brought flashes of memory to Danny's mind: vulture ghosts wearing fez hats, the college reunion, the feeling Danny had experienced when he realized Vlad was evil… the expression on Vlad's face when Danny had asked him to rip out his ghost half…

"I can take care of myself!" Naruto huffed, getting upset. "What do you care anyway? No one makes a big deal out of how late I stay out—"

"Well, I _do_ care and I _am_ making a big deal out of it!" Danny put his hands on his hips and looked down at Naruto disapprovingly. He did his best to envision how his mother had looked at him when she caught him sneaking into the house past his curfew.

He faltered with alarm as he realized he could no longer clearly picture the details of his mother's face.

"Well! I can come back as late as I wanna. You can't tell me when I can go out and when I can't." Naruto was saying rebelliously.

"Look, you know when I come back from work. If you get back later than I do then just come in and say 'Hi'. That way I won't worry about you. Okay?" The indignation in Danny's voice had faded, leaving quiet weariness.

Naruto blinked at him, his scowl fading. "You were worried about me?"

"Of course I worry about you, kid." Danny sighed, lowering his eyes. His motivation to play parent to the boy had suffered a severe blow. He wanted to leave… he wanted to lock himself in his room and fervently try to pull up every memory of his mother that he could…

"Really? Oh!"

Danny looked up and was instantly caught by the expression in Naruto's startling blue eyes. The child was looking at him in honest wonder.

That expression was enough to rouse Danny from his gloom. "How about this," he proposed. "You knock on my door to say 'Hi' when you come in late and I'll do the same when I come back late from work."

"Ah… Okay!" Naruto seemed too stunned to say anything more.

Danny surprised himself then, by inviting the boy out for dinner. He wanted to hide—to hide and to wallow in his own grief. He wanted to sleep: to sleep and sleep and forget. But somehow he discovered the strength to put aside that desire, if only temporarily. For such a hapless child as Naruto, Danny found he even wanted to focus on making the boy happy over dwelling on his own unhappiness.

Nevertheless, after the dinner and after he bade Naruto goodnight, the familiar depression sank cold fingers into his heart and mind.

He retreated back to his own room, shut the door and sat down hard on his bed. Immediately, he buried his face in his hands.

Why hadn't he thought to bring anything with him when he'd left Amity Park? He could've brought something of theirs. Anything… His wallet had had a photo of his family in it. But that had been left on a table in Vlad's lab. How ironic that he could imagine that table and the bulge of the wallet so clearly in his mind but not the picture itself.

He could've even taken that stupid picture Sam had had framed—where she had caught him and Tucker hugging in their sleep during the purple-back gorilla incident. Sam couldn't look at that picture without breaking out into a grin or a laugh. Danny couldn't remember what that laugh sounded like… though he remembered the feelings it had elicited within him almost _too_ well.

A knock on his door brought him reluctantly out of his languishing. Pushing himself to his feet, he walked over and answered the door.

"Hi!" Naruto greeted him with a wide grin. "I'm home! I just went out for dinner with a friend and thought I'd check in with you before going to bed!"

"You…you're just…Haah…" Letting his eyes roll heavenward, Danny let out a helpless breath and closed his eyes for a brief moment as he pinched the bridge of his nose. The stinging receded and when he reopened his eyes there was a small, fond smile tugging at his mouth.

"Get in here, you."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"You know, Sasuke, Naruto's been wondering where I keep disappearing off to." Danny brought up gently one night at the Uchiha house. More than two months had passed since the incident with Danny's father and the ghosts of Sasuke's relatives. Danny didn't sleep over at Sasuke's house as frequently as he had those first couple of weeks but since Naruto had begun visiting Danny's apartment to say goodnight, the teen was finding it more and more difficult to excuse his absences.

"Is it okay if I tell him he can come over sometimes too?"

After a pause, Sasuke nodded.

Naruto, oddly enough, was actually more difficult to convince.

"Why would I want to go over to that jerk's place?" Naruto pouted. "Every time I even touch something he gets all stiff and twitchy. I can't stand stuck-up people like that."

Danny hadn't actually thought Sasuke had been all that rude to Naruto. But then again, he had excused much of the boy's actions as a product of his age and circumstances. Naruto probably couldn't do the same. "Everyone's different, Naruto. Not everyone's got your sense of humour." _Or mischief_. "Chances are his family was strict with him. They probably kept the place clean and didn't let him touch things. Now that they're gone, he's even more protective of those little things." Danny's eyes lowered as he said this, his insight coming from realizations about his own behaviour.

Not even a week after his parents and Jazz were gone, the GiW had shown up at his house. Under the guise of presenting their condolences they'd tried to appropriate the ghost weaponry Danny's parents had poured their lives into. He had refused—had physically shoved them out the door and slammed it in their faces. When they'd returned the next day with a warrant, Danny had been enraged. Desperate to protect his parents' creations, he had been one flashy transformation away from blowing his secret when Vlad had inexplicably appeared in the doorway, his own lawyer in tow.

Danny had no idea what Vlad had done but the ghost weapons had been filed back under trust with the rest of the estate—to be distributed to Danny upon his coming of age.

Which would now never happen.

Danny felt a twinge of guilt. How strongly he'd fought to keep his parents' legacy intact, only to later abandon it with such callous efficiency.

For the first time, he considered what it might be like to go back to Amity Park, if only to claim his parents' estate. Maybe in three years… when he turned eighteen…

"I guess," Naruto was saying. "But that still doesn't give him any right to act like a jerk!"

Danny tuned back in to the present, leaving his musing for later. "Yes. You're right. And isn't that something you want to tell him in person?"

Watching Naruto do just that later on was one of the more amusing things Danny had yet witnessed in Konoha.

"Ok, now the only reason I'm giving you a second chance is 'cuz Danny asked me to!" Naruto said, wagging a finger in a baffled Sasuke's face. "But if you're gonna be my friend then you gotta agree to be non-jerkish, okay?"

Sasuke blinked.

"I mean, you gotta lighten up about stuff. Maybe smile sometimes. You should come with us to breakfast and maybe let me look around your kitchen sometimes—I'll let you look around my place! Though all I really got is ramen and milk and sometimes the milk makes my stomach hurt…"

Danny made a mental note to check the expiration dates on Naruto's milk cartons.

"And you gotta come with us when we go out for breakfast or something! It's really fun, there's this _awesome_ ramen joint which you had _better_ like! We can also do lots of fun things—maybe I can teach you how to play a prank sometime, or something. You know I once painted funny drawings on Hokage Hill—"

Sasuke gave Naruto an appalled look and Danny snorted. He had always found it funny that, in spite of their claims of being a 'hidden' village, the people of Konoha had carved the faces of their past Hokages into the towering landscape, like some sort of Japanese ninja version of Mount Rushmore. Danny silently gave Naruto props for pulling off such a bold prank. Although, given how seriously the people took that hill, Danny would have wagered that Naruto had spent many times longer scrubbing those rocks clean than he had vandalizing them.

Naruto was still rambling through his list of activities. "Or maybe we can practice forms sometime. I'm taking the entrance exam to get into the Ninja Academy and I've been trying to train but it's difficult 'cause there're no guidelines and I can't find anyone to do it with me…"

Sasuke's eyes had sharpened the moment Naruto said 'Ninja'.

"Huh… That's right, that _is_ coming up, isn't it?" Danny tapped his lips, pretending as though this was news to him. In fact, it was almost all Naruto had been talking about for weeks. "I'd almost forgotten."

"Da _nny_!" Naruto whined. "The entrance exams are _huge!_ They're the only chance we get to become ninja 'cause if we don't pass this year then—"

"I know, I know," Danny glanced indulgently down at the kid. Coming from a place where ninja were firmly a thing of fantastical movies and historical records, he simply did not understand the craze surrounding the profession.

Ninjas were _cool_ , there was no denying it, but even Danny's initial awe had faded. Seeing wave after wave of injured, bleeding, _dying_ people at the hospital had seen to that.

Creepy, suicidal, killing machines who risked their lives gathering immense power only to use it to kill each other?

Yeah… not so much.

Even as he thought this he looked over his shoulder, half expecting Kakashi to pop out of thin air and give him another lecture on life values and ninjas.

There was no one behind him though and so Danny turned forward and continued walking behind Naruto and Sasuke.

Somehow they'd made their way to Sasuke's house during their conversation. Sasuke entered and after a long moment during which they all stood uncertainly around the threshold, Sasuke opened his door further and allowed Danny and Naruto to enter his home.

Sasuke led them to a large room with paper walls and shelves set into an alcove filled with books and scrolls. There were cushions on the floor around a low table. Naruto and Sasuke kneeled while Danny, still unused to that particular sitting posture, folded his legs underneath himself. Danny took a breath, noting the distinct smell of tatami that was slowly becoming familiar.

Naruto was still talking to Sasuke about training for the Ninja Academy entrance exams. "I've been asking Danny to help me, but he's always busy at work… and…" Naruto leaned closer to Sasuke hiding his mouth with a hand. "He kinda sucks at fighting."

"I heard that, you little porcupine." Danny said with a raised eyebrow and Naruto gave him a cheeky grin.

Given his status as an ex-half-ghost-ghost-hunter, Danny typically didn't care about his inability to win in a fistfight. Nevertheless, it chafed to have an eight-year-old say he 'sucked at fighting'.

"Not everyone wants to have super chakra abilities and become a ninja, you know." Danny said and received two nearly identical looks of horror.

"Oh, come on," Danny scoffed with a roll of his eyes and let it go. They were all orphans but that didn't make him their father. It wasn't his responsibility to try and talk them out of choosing 'assassin' as a viable career choice. Danny felt oddly spiteful as he thought this, but shoved that out of his mind. "Well, whatever. I guess you're probably taking that exam too, Sasuke?" Danny looked at the black haired boy who answered by way of a decisive a nod.

"It couldn't hurt to work together. You two could train together." Danny strained to inject any enthusiasm into that statement.

Because eight-year-olds sparring in preparation to take an exam to get into a school for trained killers sounded like such a _peachy_ idea.

Sasuke hesitated for a long moment before eventually giving a shrug of his shoulders.

"That's a yes," Danny translated to Naruto with amusement.

Naruto's grin was beatific. "Great! This is gonna be awesome! Do you know any jutsu? I was working on this one…"

Danny tuned out of the one sided conversation as a memory tugged at his mind. There was something he'd been meaning to ask Sasuke…

"Hey, Sasuke? Sorry, Naruto…" He apologized to the blond boy he'd interrupted mid spiel. "Do you know what a…kekkei genkai is? Actually, do you, Naruto?"

Naruto looked confused and shook his head.

Sasuke, on the other hand, narrowed his eyes at Danny contemplatively. After a moment he got up and walked to the shelves. Danny watched him pull out a scroll with the cross-section of a small tree and carry it to the table in his arms. The boy unravelled a portion of the thing, then pointed to a particularly dense vertical line of chicken scratches.

"Ah… Sorry, I can't read Japanese." Danny said with a sheepish grin.

Sasuke's head tilted and he stared. Then, the black-haired boy looked at Naruto as though asking _'Can you believe this?'_

Naruto grinned widely. "I can't read neither."

Sasuke looked like he was inches away from beating both grinning boys over the head with his large scroll. For a long moment he stood still, as though collecting himself. Then, seemingly coming to a conclusion, he grabbed a scroll of clean paper and a piece of charcoal before sitting back down in front of them. He drew a simple line and then pointedly held up a finger. Then he drew two lines—held up two fingers. When he drew three lines and held up three fingers, Danny finally understood.

"Oh! Those are the symbols for the numbers one, two and three, aren't they?"

Sasuke gave him such a _look_ that Danny had to laugh. More and more, he wished the boy would talk. He had a feeling the kid had a sarcastic tongue.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"Let's go!" Naruto cried, barging into Danny's apartment at an ungodly hour on one of Danny's free days.

Regretting having given the kid his spare key, Danny threw Naruto a rebellious, squinty-eyed expression before promptly turning his back and going back to sleep.

Next thing he knew, something wet was being poured over his head and Danny sprang out of bed, yelling and spluttering as Naruto stood by giggling, an empty glass in his hand.

"Y-you!" Danny mopped his soggy bangs out of his face so he could glare at Naruto properly. "You! Water?! Why?! Gah! Water! Water down my back! Cold!"

Like a whirlwind, Naruto hurried Danny through his apartment. At the little boy's insistence, Danny found himself all but shoved into his bathroom, a bundle of clothes in his hands. With the impatient calls from outside the door spurring him on, Danny was showered, brushed, dressed and respectable in record time. He was still hopping, tugging on one shoe, when Naruto yanked him out his door.

"Hold on! Hold on! I need to lock the door!" Danny exclaimed. This delay was borne with excessive foot-tapping and sighing from Naruto.

Danny was surprised when, instead of dragging him to the ramen stand, or the Ninja Academy or any other location Danny would have assumed to be exciting to the boy, Naruto dragged him to a grassy clearing behind the Uchiha compound.

"What are we doing here?" Danny looked around.

"This is where Sasuke and his family practiced, I think." Naruto cast a sideways glance at Sasuke, who had been standing in the clearing when they'd arrived, hands in his pockets. The pitch-haired boy met neither of their gazes. "It has a meadow _and_ a lake, it's perfect for training."

"You brought me out here for _training_?" Danny blinked and Naruto nodded happily while Sasuke shot him a _'no duh'_ expression. "But I thought that was something you two were gonna be working on together. You don't need me for that."

Both boys looked at him like he'd just told them the Hokage only wore his massive cloak to hide the fact that he was out of shape.

"Uh… _yeah_ we do." Naruto said matter-of-factly. "Now, let's start!"

They spent hours in that clearing. Sasuke would demonstrate the forms and stances and Naruto would copy the movements. Danny, although he wasn't actively participating, still found himself engaged by the interaction between the two boys. Sasuke never said a word, but his demonstrations were patient. And Danny had never seen Naruto display such concentration.

Eventually, Naruto was able to practice on his own. As Danny watched him, he tilted his head to the side.

"It isn't too close?" Danny sitting on the grass, asked the silent presence at his shoulder.

Sasuke, who, for whatever reason, had taken up a rather protective stance at Danny's side, was staring ahead evenly. But Danny could see the stiffness in the boy's spine.

At length, Sasuke's shoulders rose and fell in a practiced motion.

That gesture really told Danny all he needed to know because, in reality, he could feel the unrest within himself as well. The clearing was the perfect place for training but it was too close to the haunted Uchiha grounds and too far away from the protection Sasuke's parents held over the main house. Danny could feel the bone chilling disquiet of the dead and so could Sasuke.

"This was a good thing you did for him." Danny said quietly and, though he got no response from Sasuke, he somehow knew the boy was glad for the words.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

" _Supercalafragalisticexpialidocious, even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious, if you say it loud enough you'll always sound precocious. Supercalafragalisticexpialidocious…"_

Danny sang quietly to himself as he lay on his back on his bed, arms folded over his eyes, head propped up by a stack of clothes and his one pillow. The songs were bits and pieces of whatever came to his head. Right now he was working through movies he'd seen as a young kid: old movies that he'd watched with Jazz and then, later on, with Sam and Tucker.

It wasn't the most exciting thing ever but they didn't have television in Konoha and Danny was feeling the loss particularly keenly today.

He didn't want to go outside. Outside he had to deal with people and put on a polite face and pretend he was a useful, functioning member of society. He wasn't useful. Or functioning. He didn't want to mingle. He didn't want to co-exist. He didn't even want to get out of bed.

Danny was sick.

Maybe it was something he'd picked up at the hospital. Or maybe it was a result of his many late night activities. Language lessons at Sasuke's place usually went late. Sasuke was precociously disciplined about going to bed at a reasonable time but Naruto was a ball of hyperactive energy that could bounce off the walls all night if Danny wasn't firm enough. But even on those days that he wasn't at Sasuke's, he found himself reading medical books deep into the night, desperately trying to keep stride with his increasingly demanding job at the hospital.

Whatever. He didn't know. He didn't care. All Danny knew and cared about was that his head felt stuffed and the only thing burning harder than his eyes was his nose.

The headache had hit him sometime last night, early enough that he hadn't gone to bed yet, late enough that he hadn't bothered taking the trip out to the store for medicine. Then his nose had started to drip and it had all been downhill from there.

He got maybe three hours of sleep. Maybe. If he lay down at anything more horizontal than a sitting position then his nose clogged and he couldn't breath.

Now, this morning he'd gotten up and weak legs and vertigo had sent him right back down, where he stayed. He hadn't even bothered to send in a message for a sick-day at work. He couldn't be bothered.

Confined to his bed, the old, depressive fog had settled all too easily over his shoulders. He hadn't felt this lethargic and useless since he'd been staying at Vlad's.

He had been escaping himself, he realized. Work employed the majority of his days and keeping an eye on two manic eight-year-olds took all his evenings and nights. He hadn't anticipated how fanatical Naruto and Sasuke would be about their ninja training, though in hindsight he probably should've expected it, and keeping them out of trouble and in one piece was a constant exercise. Every night he found himself dead on his feet, asleep before his head hit his pillow. He hadn't the luxury of time or space to stop and think.

Maybe culture shock had kept his depression at bay. Maybe homesickness was finally settling in.

He felt like a marathon runner who had tripped over a loose stone only to be overwhelmed by the crowd behind him.

Oh, he _hated_ being sick. Always had.

… Although, now that he thought about it. He hadn't _always_ hated being sick. Long ago when he was a kid and getting sick meant a day off from school, he'd actually enjoyed it. His mom would set him up on the couch with a mountain of pillows and blankets and she'd give him soda and cookies and let him play video games and watch whatever he wanted on TV.

Back then, getting sick was like a free day.

One stark memory that stood out amongst the others was his mom's soup. It wasn't soup from scratch—no, at the Fenton household anything that required more work than a quick reheating in the microwave had a tendency to come out green and glowing. No, the soup she'd always make for him was nothing more than Campbell's tomato soup.

It was silly, Danny knew. The stuff wasn't that great. It had enough salt to cause palpitations and he would normally never eat it. But it had somehow become part of his tradition while sick. Every time he got sick, Mom would make him a bowl of Campell's tomato soup.

All he knew was that right now he really, really missed that soup.

Quietly, Danny sang.

" _Gotta keep… one jump ahead of the breadline, one swing ahead of the sword… I steal only what I can't afford. That's everything…"_

As some point he'd wormed his way under the covers and curled up miserably on his side, suffering a stuffed nose for the small comfort the position gave him. This bed wasn't comfy like the one at home. This one was too hard. The pillows were of heavy cotton and the covers were thin. At home, his bed was worn to his weight, the pillows were nice and fluffy and easily stackable and all his familiar rocket models and posters decorated his room.

He hated this bed.

His throat itched and he winced, trying to hold it in. But the urge only got worse and he caved, whole body bucking with the force of his wet coughing.

God, even the backs of his teeth hurt from all the hacking he was doing.

He ran a hand through his hair, then winced when his fingers snagged on tangles. His hair was getting long. Yet another annoyance…

Suddenly his head rose. He blinked. Had someone knocked at his door? After a moment of listening to silence, his head lowered again, eyelids drooping. No… he must've been imagining things. Who'd visit him in the middle of the day anyway?

 _Knock-Knock-KnockKnock-Knock._

So there _was_ someone at the door. He groaned and folded further into himself. Maybe if he ignored them they'd go away.

 _KnockKnock-KnockKnockKnock-Knock-Knock-KnockKnockKnock._

The noisy percussion was making his head pound. It sounded like someone was trying to play out the bassline of a Dumpty Humpty song. With a whine of unhappiness, he hefted himself sluggishly out of bed, grumbling at the various aches and pains in his body from having spent too long lying around.

Despite the relatively warm room, the moment he was up away from his blankets a frigid chill settled into his bones and he shivered, hugging himself. His _legs_ were cold. What was up with that?

Bedraggled and grizzled, Danny didn't even bother combing his fingers through his hair before opening his door.

"What?" He groused, and was unprepared when a blur of orange and yellow tackled his waist. His weak knees buckled, but he staggered and managed to hold himself upright.

"DANNY!" Naruto yelled happily. "How are you?"

"Wha…?" Danny looked down, confused. "Naruto? What are you doing here?" It was still early afternoon. He hadn't been expecting a visit from Naruto until the evening, if that.

"We went to the hospital to meet you for lunch and you weren't there!"

"Yeah, I'm sick—" Danny started, but his voice was overrun by Naruto.

"So me and Sasuke decided to come and get you!"

"You and…?" Danny cast a surprised look to the door and, sure enough, there was a second, short, messy-haired kid occupying his threshold. Sasuke's arms were folded and he was eyeing Danny's ragged state with obvious disdain.

' _You look terrible.'_ Sasuke's look clearly conveyed.

"Hello to you too, Sasuke." Danny said, voice dry in more ways than one.

"You're sick!" Naruto exclaimed with sudden realization.

"Oh? No kidding." Danny sighed. There was a sudden pressure between his eyes, like a balloon swelling in his head. His eyes unfocused and he leaned against the doorframe.

"You don't look good," Naruto informed him of the obvious. "You should lie down."

"Yeah… I know." Danny said distantly, making his way back to the bed and easing his way onto it, the soles of his feet thanking him as he took his weight off them. Amazing. Only two minutes on his feet and already his back and legs were aching. Either he was getting old, or he was _really_ sick.

He swallowed and grimaced as it went passed something hard in his throat, then lurched forward as a cough surprised him. It was long, painful and left him feeling somewhat nauseous.

Definitely really sick.

"Oh I know! I'll make you some ramen!" Naruto said excitedly and trotted over to the kitchen.

"No…" Danny practically moaned at the mention of food. Abruptly the imagined smell of spicy noodles filled his nose and he was holding his breath and his stomach. "No noodles." He tucked his feet up and lay down on his side.

"What do you want then?" Naruto asked uncertainly.

"...Tomato soup." He answered, voice muffled by the blanket.

"Tomato soup?" Danny could practically hear the grin falling off Naruto's face. "I dunno how to make that…"

Danny sighed, resigning himself. "That's okay…"

"Ok… but… Hey! Watch it!"

Hearing the sudden change in tone, Danny frowned and poked his head over his covers, hoping that he wouldn't have to break up another fight between Naruto and Sasuke. Those two were like water in hot oil.

But what he saw surprised him. Sasuke had pulled out a few tomatoes, then, with efficiency that only came from knowing one's way around a kitchen, the boy rummaged through Danny's cupboards until he found Danny's pot. He pulled that out, along with a wooden chopping board and a knife.

What followed was the most efficient preparation of soup Danny had ever seen.

"Whoa…" Even Naruto was impressed as Sasuke's hand rose and fell in a blur, the tomato looking like it was slicing itself. "You… are just not normal, you know that?" Naruto informed Sasuke. The black haired boy responded by taking a wooden spoon—Danny wasn't even aware that he owned one of those—and smacking Naruto over the knuckles as the blond made to steal a tomato slice.

"OW!" Naruto yelped, glaring at Sasuke. "Why you—" He made to flick the quiet boy in the ear and Sasuke ducked, coming up and rapping Naruto on the head with the spoon.

Hearing the kafuffle, Danny looked up just in time to see Naruto steal a piece of tomato, a vengeful look in his eye.

"Ay!" Danny barked. "Behave!" That brief shout aggravated his throat enough to induce another rough bought of coughing but it did the trick. Naruto swallowed the tomato slice, sending Sasuke a triumphant look and Sasuke rolled his eyes and turned back to the pot.

During one of his walks through market street, Danny had procured a rather beat-up, grungy second-hand hotplate. It wasn't much, but it cheap and allowed Danny to make his meals in his room instead of using the shared kitchen, which was all he'd been asking for at the time.

Sasuke eyed the hotplate with clear and obvious disdain. Nevertheless, he turned the thing on, looking for all the world like he was berating the poor hotplate for it's pathetic existence even as he placed the pot over it. Had Danny been in better spirits, he would have found the sight amusing.

Soon, everything was boiling. Sasuke shook some salt into the pot, stirred, and suddenly there was a steaming bowl of tomato soup being shoved into Danny's hands.

Naruto and Sasuke stayed with him. Naruto told stories and gossiped while Sasuke dug out a pen and pencil and set up a small table on the bed using one of Danny's medical textbooks. The boy drew out a grid on the paper and began silently demonstrating the rules for a game similar to dots and boxes, a game Danny hadn't played since primary school. Naruto didn't take to the game, but Danny and Sasuke played a number of rounds until the teen finally relented.

"Uhh, that's enough. You win." Danny said falling back against his pillow with an arm covering his eyes. He glanced at Sasuke under his arm. "Don't give me that smug look, the only reason you keep winning is 'cause I have a major headache and can only breath through my mouth."

"You're still feeling sick?" Naruto worried over him.

The teen sniffled. "Eh… well, it's better than earlier." He said with a smile. "Having you guys around helps. But… it is getting kinda late." He glanced out his window. It was dark. He hadn't even noticed the sun setting. "Sasuke, you shouldn't be walking back to your place alone in the dark…"

Naruto grinned. "What are you talking about? We're staying here with you tonight!"

Danny didn't know if he was happy or annoyed by this declaration. "You're gonna catch this…" Danny warned.

"Nah! We won't get sick!" Naruto shook his head and grinned with all the confidence of an eight-year old. Sasuke just shrugged and settled more comfortably onto the bed.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Hours later, Danny lay propped up on his pillows, gazing through his window at the bright stars.

' _There isn't much I haven't shared with you along the road. And through it all there'd always be… tomorrow's episode. Suddenly, that isn't true… There's another avenue beckoning the great divide…'_

In the piercing silence of his own head the songs did return.

Not wanting to wake his small roommates, he gave the songs no voice, though he couldn't stop them from playing through his mind and his lips moved silently along to music only he could hear.

' _All I know is all we had is over… said and done.'_

He licked his lips, the memory of the soup still on his tongue. It wasn't Campbell's Tomato Soup but… somehow… it didn't matter.

' _Friends never say goodbye… Never say goodbye…'_

True to their word, the boys had not budged from their spots all night. Naruto fell asleep curled up against Danny's side and Sasuke had pilfered some spare bedding to use as a pillow as he claimed a free corner of the bed near Danny's feet.

He looked down at the boys. He hoped they didn't get sick from exposure. He really shouldn't have let them stay but he was selfish. It felt nice not to be alone.

A wave of cold travelled from his neck to his knees and he hugged his blanket closer.

"How are you feeling?"

Danny gasped, jostling the sleeping Naruto as he sat up straight.

For a long moment he could only stare at the apparition before him. Then his eyes began to sting and he sniffled as something sharp lodged in his throat.

"Oh, Daniel…" His mother soothed. "My little boy."

She knelt on the bed, and wrapped ethereal arms around his shaking body. He leaned in and sobbed quietly. "Mom…" He said plaintively. For all that he couldn't physically touch her, she still felt _there_. He called out to her again, not even feeling any embarrassment when the call came out as his childhood "Momma".

"Danny, shh… Danny…" She pulled away, hands coming up to frame his face she gave him a watery smile as tears tracked down her own cheeks. "You'll wake the little ones."

Having momentarily forgotten about Naruto and Sasuke, he glanced down. They were still sleeping and he exhaled in relief.

"Can we go somewhere to talk?" She suggested.

Danny nodded and, after a moment's thought, he slipped out of the bed and headed to the window.

"Not without something to keep you warm." His mother scolded.

He sent her a pained smile, relishing the mild chiding. He'd missed this... "It's summer, Mom." He answered quietly. "It's, like, 70 above outside."

"Doesn't mean I didn't see you shivering in bed. Take a sweater with you at the very least."

Already hanging in the window was his towel. It was large, dry and relatively warm. It was also the only thing on hand so he grabbed it and then hefted himself onto the sill.

He had no balcony, but there was an outcropping of the rooftop directly underneath his window. It was onto this slanting surface that he lowered himself, wrapping the towel around himself like a blanket.

He watched his mother position herself next to him, close enough that, had she been solid, their sides would have been flush. For an indescribable time, Danny's heart was content to simply sit in silence, basking in her presence. He looked up at the stars, but mostly he simply watched his mother, memorizing again her every feature.

She was so many things to him. _Safe. Shelter. Home. Love._ All those things and more.

She smiled at him and he realized he was grinning widely at her.

"Ha, ha haa…" He let out breathless laughter, throat stinging, eyes screwed shut and still he couldn't stop grinning. Hot tears squeezed their way out of his eyes. "I… I c-can't…"

"It's okay, Danny," She said gently. "Just let it out."

With that permission, he buried his face in his knees, shaking and covering his mouth to stifle the sounds of his release of emotions. Somehow, he felt the warmth of his mother blanketing him. Eventually, his voice returned.

"I-it hurts…" He managed between sobs. "It hurts so much to see you. But at the same time, it's so—"

"I know…" She told him understandingly. "It's okay. Breathe now, sweetie. Don't talk. Just breathe."

Listening to her, he took a deep breath and bore through a short span of hiccups before he finally quietened.

"I wish I could feel your temperature…" She mused. "You do look so much better than this afternoon, though."

"You were watching me?" Danny was startled. "Why didn't you—"

"You had those two adorable youngsters to keep you occupied. I wasn't going to intrude." She said with a smile that made his heart twist.

"You would never be intruding." He protested fisting his hands in the towel. "I would have figured something out. Even if they had to leave—if we could—"

"Now you listen to me, Daniel." She swept in front of him and put her hands over his fists. "I don't want you to ever, ever push away the living in favour of the dead."

Oddly, that comment seemed to cause him more pain than her. "Mom…" He told her frankly. "Talking to you is worth ten times more than any time spent with them."

She was silent and, for a long moment, simply regarded him evenly. Eventually, he dropped his eyes in shame.

"I'm sorry, but… that's just how I feel…" He said. "It's probably not a good thing to say. They…They're good kids. Naruto is a part of my life now. Sasuke is becoming, too… But, still. No matter what they are, they can't replace you. All of you."

"No one is asking you to replace anyone." She told him calmly. "But I think you need to take some time and think about exactly how those boys think of _you_. And whether or not you're willing to rise up to the responsibilities that comes with the role you are taking on."

Danny chewed on that comment. It was true: he hadn't really spent much time thinking about how Naruto and Sasuke viewed him—so caught up was he with how _he_ viewed _them._

"How they… but…" He faltered.

"A bond like the one I saw today between you and those boys… that sort of thing isn't something you can just throw away." Her voice was steady, soothing.

"I'm not going to leave them." He said without thinking. Then he paused as the implications of his own words began to sink in.

His mother smiled at him knowingly. "You've been finding solace in them."

Danny nodded and his gaze dropped. When his mom put it like that it made him sound selfish—as though he was using Naruto and Sasuke as distractions or emotional band-aids.

As though she could read his mind, his mother's eyes softened and her next words drew Danny's eyes back up. "You need to trust yourself. Have faith in your actions. You are as much a balm to those boys as they are to you. I saw it today and you should realize this." Her eyes hardened. "Don't let yourself get wrapped up in _you_. Don't think about how you need them. Think about how you need to act to keep _them_ with _you_. Being wrapped up in your own pursuits will only drive them away. _I know…_ " Her gaze grew distant and her last words were a mere whisper in the wind.

Danny immediately shook his head. "You didn't. You weren't. That was me. I was the one with the secrets."

His mother's eyes were sad as she weighed him. "There is no forgiving a parent who makes her own son feel unsafe in his own home."

Danny's mouth felt dry. He wanted very much to tell his mom that _it was never her fault_. That the accident that had lead to his ghost powers had been his own stupidity. And his decision to run around catching ghosts with delusions of heroism had been his own arrogance. But he knew those words wouldn't help, so instead he swallowed and shook his head slowly. "You didn't know." He said quietly.

"It doesn't matter." His mother responded. "As your mother I still should have seen. I should have noticed something was wrong and I should have given you the opportunity to talk with me." Listening to these words, Danny felt a pain in his chest, like his heart was swelling. It wasn't a negative feeling, but it was something he couldn't put a name to: loss but also a release. Relief that his mother wanted him to lean on her—despair that it was too late.

He let his thoughts drop as she continued speaking. "So I want you to be aware. Keep your eyes open around those boys because raising children is more than a full-time job."

" _Ch-children?_ " Danny choked.

"You throw yourself in and you're not prepared at all. Then they grow up and say they don't need you but it's a mask because they really do…"

"Wait. _Wait._ " Danny raised his hands and interrupted his mom's sudden onset of rambling because he still couldn't get passed that one word. " _Children?_ You said _children_. Are you saying my relationship with them is—"

"Well, what would you call it then?" She wanted to know.

"I-I… I dunno! Not _that_. Maybe… maybe… They're like… little brothers, or something. But I—"

"Well, there you go." She smiled at him.

He cut off mid-sentence. "Brother?" More than friends; actual _Family?_ Did he really—? "Do you think they think I—?"

"The only way to find out is to ask." She pointed out.

He sat back, folding his legs and tugging the towel tighter around himself as he lapsed into thoughtful silence.

Eventually, his mother was the one to break the quiet. "So… it's summer…" She said contemplatively. "It's been that long…?"

"Yeah…" He sighed, shifting his legs. It was summer in Amity Park, at least. Here they called it the 'dry season'. "It feels so strange. Yesterday I would've said it felt like years since I last saw you… but right now it doesn't feel like any time has passed at all." Except he still couldn't stop staring at her: couldn't stop memorizing every detail of her face, every flicker of emotion.

She hummed in understanding, but didn't say anything as her gazed passed over him, examining him head to toe.

He blinked. "What is it?"

"Oh…" Her smile was tinged with sadness. "It's nothing. You just… You look different."

"Really?" He queried in mild interest. He hadn't noticed. "How?"

"You look older." To which he answered with a quiet 'Ah', "And also… tired…"

"Ah…" He repeated, looking down. From her tone he knew his mom wasn't just talking about his sickness. Thinking it might comfort her, he smiled and said "Well, this is nothing. Jazz would probably tell you I look a sight better now than I did while I was living at Vlad's."

She looked at him with shock. "Vlad's? And Jazz? Jazz visited you already? But why—? Oh… oh, yes." Her voice wavered. "That's right. The will… Vlad was named…"

"Godfather. Yes. I know." Danny answered with some bitterness. "We were both pretty surprised to find that one out. Though his was more surprised-pleased where mine was surprised-horrified."

Her eyebrows furrowed upward in contrition. Her gaze was heavy with an emotion that made Danny's own shoulders feel weighed down. "I… There are… so many things that I regret now." She told him. "Things I was blind to before. I am… so sorry… Daniel. For not paying more attention… for not noticing what you were going through… for the ghost portal. For Vlad… _How could I have missed it?_ " Her last words were quiet, spoken to herself though Danny heard them just as clearly as the rest. "Your father and I, we were so wrapped up in our own lives, in pursuing our own obsessions that we completely missed…" She trailed off, looking as though the force of her guilt had physically stifled her voice.

He stayed silent in the wake of her admission, not knowing what he was waiting for. Then, it occurred to him: he was waiting for an emotional reaction from himself—a stab of pain or a lifting relief. Nothing came and he closed his eyes with understanding.

"It's okay." He said, looking at her with a small smile tugging at his lips. "I mean it. Really. It true that sometimes I _was_ really upset that you guys never noticed. I mean, the Ghost Gabber was constantly trying to translate _my_ words and still Jazz was the one detaching her hair from the Fenton Weasel."

"Your father was convinced she was overshadowed." She said with a sigh and they shared a quiet chuckle.

"But I understand a lot better now." Danny added. "It's hard to pick up on a secret that someone's actively trying to hide from you, even if that person is family. Maybe _especially_ if that person is family. And most definitely if that secret is something unbelievable." He'd lived in Konoha for weeks and never realized he was surrounded by ninjas. Sure, he'd figured there was something loopy about the population but the word _ninja_ had never crossed his mind. "And I did do my very best to hide it from you.

"And I… never blamed you guys for Vlad." He continued, looking out at the line of houses. His eyes traced a line of laundry waving in the wind. "Sometimes I kinda wished Dad was less oblivious. But in other ways it really helped, so…" He shrugged.

"Helped?" His mother looked at him inquiringly.

"Well, yeah… You know… for… ah…" This might have been a soul-bearing conversation, but Danny still wasn't too keen on letting his mother know about all the ways he'd abused her trust. "Well, when I took the Ecto-Skeleton. Also, it was something I was able to kinda hold over Vlad: that I would reveal both our secrets if he ever tried to… um…" ' _kill Dad'._ He trailed off, unable to finish that sentence out loud.

"We didn't even notice you were gone." She recalled quietly. "I can't believe… We were so concerned over the ecto-suit being stolen that we never even realized you'd disappeared in the middle of a crisis. We only noticed when Vlad showed up carrying you."

"Yeah…" Danny drawled dryly. "You were so happy that he 'rescued' me."

A horrified look came to her eyes. "Who was it that did that to you? Was it the Ghost King, or—? So help me if it was Vlad—!" Her eyes lit with rage.

"It was the Ghost King." He told her with a fierce, protective expression on her face barely changed and Danny felt _warm,_ safe in the presence of his mom who would would beat anything that hurt him to an inch of its afterlife. "It wasn't Vlad. I didn't even know he was there. No, I was tired 'cause the suit had drained down to zero right as I beat Pariah—the Ghost King. Vlad must've shown up after, taken the suit and brought me home."

The look of alarm hardly faded from his mother's eyes. "Down to zero? You are lucky you…" Then she shook her head, changing track. "Your father and I witnessed some of the fights between Phantom and the Wisconsin Ghost. I think Jack even once mentioned how it was 'funny' that two of the most powerful ghosts we'd come across had the names 'Danny' and 'Vlad'."

"Oh… You saw those fights?" Danny tried to hide a wince. Fights with Vlad had never been his more triumphant moments.

"Yes. They… never ended favourably for Phantom." She looked at him in concern.

"Yeah…" Danny huffed. "Vlad was a steroid-spiked fruitloop. We have since worked out our differences, though." Rather, it was the death of all the reasons they had to fight one another that forced their truce.

"Our trip to the Rockies makes _so_ much more sense now." She decided.

"It does, doesn't it?" They shared a smile.

Danny spent a moment enjoying her company in silence, before giving voice to a question that had been bothering him for a while. "Mom, how much do you… know?" When she gave him a questioning glance he explained. "I mean, you know about me, and you know about Vlad… but you didn't know that I was living at Vlad's, or that Jazz visited…?"

"Oh… yes. Yes… I know only the details I found out after I formed. Through word of mouth in the Ghost Zone. I know about the ghost hunting and that you were Danny Phantom and that Vlad was Vlad Plasmius. I know that you… _aren't_ anymore. Nor is Vlad. Other than that… not much."

"Ah… 'kay." Those were the biggest points of information, though he was surprised she didn't seem to know about his flight from Amity Park. He was also surprised that she hadn't drawn attention to the fact that they were currently looking out on a Japanese village situated in the middle of a remote valley.

Again it was as though she read his mind as she looked out around them before continuing to speak. "I seemed to have missed so much… Why are you here by yourself? Why are you living alone in this place? Why are you looking after these two boys? Where is Vlad?"

Danny winced.

"I couldn't live with him, Mom." He told her earnestly. "I just _couldn't_."

"Even… even if you couldn't stay with him, surely Angela and Maurice would have taken you in. I can't imagine that even Pam and Jeremy would refuse…"

His memory of the separate confrontations with Tucker and Sam's parents was distant. He recalled in a detached fashion that Tucker's parents had cried and sympathized and offered him a place to stay, which he must have turned down. He remembered, with an echo of pain, the argument with Sam's parents who had turned their grief to anger and directed most of it at him.

"I couldn't stay in Amity Park." He said lowly, hugging his limbs close as he tucked his chin into his arms and let his hair fall over his eyes. "You didn't see me, Mom… I was a mess… I… I wouldn't have survived in Amity Park."

He could feel her eyes on him but couldn't turn and face her.

"Where are we, Danny?" She asked at length.

"Konohagakure, they call it. It's in Japan, I think… It's a bit difficult to say. I didn't really ask Clockwork for many details before he sent me here."

" _Clockwork_ …" She repeated.

There was something in her intonation of the name that had Danny raising his head to look at her. "You've heard of him?" He wanted to know.

She hesitated, then shook her head. "It's not important. Are you happy here, Daniel?"

His mother had never looked at him so seriously. "Some days." He responded. "Not most of the time. But some days I feel like I can be happy." ' _And guilty for that happiness'_ , he thought, but did not say. "It's mostly because of them that I feel anything at all." He looked toward his window and thought fondly of how Naruto had probably sprawled across the bed and how Sasuke was likely curled into a tiny ball under the covers.

"You are doing better here than with Vlad, then?"

" _Much_." He stressed, with a nod. He levelled his own sober look on his mother. "So, _so_ much better."

Then, a thought occurred to him and he couldn't help the wry quirking of his lips. "Although… I would do just about anything for a pizza right now. I am so _sick_ of fish!"

His mother blinked at him, then an affectionate smile lit her face and she chuckled. "Fish is good for you."

"Fish is _all_ I eat here." He grumbled. "At this rate my blood's going to get so thin from Omega-3 that I'll bleed out from a paper cut."

"You've been… studying?" She noticed with in interest.

"Ah…" He carded a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Yeah. I guess. Actually, I kinda got a job. I work at the hospital here."

Her eyes brightened and she looked at him with unmistakable pride. Feeling oddly like he didn't deserve that look, he ducked his head with a self-conscious half-smile.

"Mom," He started, fiddling with his fingers. "D'you think… d'you think I made the right choice? S-Separating from my ghost half… d'you think it was the right thing to do?"

He watched her intently as she obviously gave thought to the question. At length, her head drooped. "I won't lie to you, Danny. I… am glad that that ghost is no longer a part of you."

For an unknown reason, his heart dropped. "Because all ghosts are evil?" He said dully, wondering why he was upset at her response. It was the same as what he'd told himself, after all.

"No."

He looked up.

"It is a difficult thing," She explained. "To have your beliefs turned up side down and thrust in your face, all in a single moment. For so long, I believed ghosts to be driven by single minded obsessiveness, to have minds so twisted and scarred that they are nothing more than semi-sentient ectoplasma incapable of complex thought or sensation. Much of my adult life was defined by those beliefs. But… well… _look_ at me."

She gestured to her translucent body that was floating just over the roof's surface while maintaining a seated position. She laughed ruefully. "I think this is why it took me so long to form… I refused to change my belief, rejected _this_ , what I am now, for so long…"

"Yeah, no kidding." He offered her a lopsided smile. "Even Dad came before you."

"Jack—your father has already visited you?" She asked, incredulous. Danny nodded. "Goodness. I really _am_ the last one to come, aren't I?"

"Not quite…" Danny murmured, quietly enough that even he didn't hear the words. Then, louder, "So what was it, then? How did you form?"

"It was you." She smiled at him. "My need to see you won out. I knew it was only by accepting this form that I could see you and speak to you again, so I did. Maybe that is obsessive. But now, at the very least, I cannot deny that ghosts are capable of deep thought and feeling.

"It was you." She repeated. "The knowledge that _you_ , my sweet little boy had been… had been living… existing… as both…" She faltered, apparently incapable of even speaking the words.

"Half-ghost, Mom." Danny supplied with a small smile.

"Yes. As a half-ghost." She said with conviction. "And that convinced me that my thoughts were wrong. That what I believed was wrong. Because the one thing I know with even more certainty than all of my studies is my _children_. I know _you_ , Danny. And I know that you, without a doubt, are good. So all ghosts could not be evil because you, my son, are most certainly not. Half-ghost or human, you are a good person."

He was taken aback by the sheer strength of her certainty. The blame he'd put on his ghost-half… all the rage and disgust that had made him disown that part of himself… Had it all been wrong?

First his father's words and now his mother's…

' _I thought getting rid of the ghost made me better…'_ this thought rang through his mind. But it rang hollow. Had he ever really believed this or had he merely willingly deluded himself?

"So, then," His voice was quiet. "Why are you glad…?"

"Glad that you got rid of it?" She supplied and he nodded. "Because I know what you used that power to do. Danny, you were trying to be a hero, weren't you?" At his nod, she continued. "But how many lies did you have to tell? How many classes did you skip? How many times did you come home hiding cuts, bruises, broken bones?"

He lowered his head. When her hand appeared in his view to hover over his chest he looked up into her eyes.

"As your mother, I am intensely proud of that heart of yours." She said and he smiled, feeling almost like he could feel comforting warmth coming from that hand before she drew it back to herself. "But as your mother, I also desire your safety just as strongly. I think of all those many— _too many—_ times I saw Phantom get hurt and I feel a terrible pain. I imagine you risking your life and… and I know that what I know probably only scratches the surface. I have no idea how many battles you've fought. But just the fact that you've _fought battles_ … And then there are other things: I can't imagine what havoc that ghostly energy wreaked on your biological system, let alone the strain on your mind."

"It wasn't so bad…" He defended.

"How about the lying? The hiding? The sneaking out at night? Phantom was sighted _many_ times fighting in the middle of the night. 3am? 4am? 5? Can you honestly tell me that was good for you? For your health? For your studies? For your relationship with us, your family?"

Danny clasped his hands under his nose, holding the towel so that it covered him almost completely. When it seemed that she was honestly waiting for him to reply he gave a small shake of the head.

"That is why I'm glad it's gone. Without it, I can wish for you to have a normal, happy, _safe_ life. I can have more comfort that you won't be risking your life fighting super-powered enemies."

"I see…" He answered softly. He looked down and saw her hand hovering just above the roof, just like the rest of her body. On an impulse he reached out and tried to take her hand.

As expected, his hand passed right through her.

"Danny…" His Mom exhaled.

"It… It was like this with Jazz and Tucker too…" Danny said shakily. "I couldn't touch them either. But back home I could touch ghosts. And even _here…"_ He trailed off, not wanting to discuss his encounter with Inabi Uchiha. "But Dad… he could also use some sort of power. What… what are you guys? How come I can't touch you…?"

"Danny…" This time, his mother said his voice as a quiet, rueful sigh. "I… don't know for sure but…Oh, it's terribly unscientific to guess…"

"Guess." Danny urged. " _Please._ "

His mother looked into his eyes for a moment, before her gazed shifted to the side. "Almost all theory and research points to the cause of a ghost's formation being an intense emotional state right at the moment of death: regret and vengefulness being the most common…"

"Yeah…" Danny nodded. This much he'd known from years of listening to his parent's spiels.

"The stronger the emotion, the more tangible the ghostly manifestation is."

"Ok…" Danny was still not sure where his mother was going with this.

"It leads to reason then that if a ghost is in the process of alleviating the ties it has to the real world… it… the manifestation would… weaken…"

Slowly, his mother's gaze came back to meet Danny's and he felt his own eyes widen as he realized what she was saying.

 _That this was probably the one and only time he would see his Mother's ghost._

 _That he'd never see Jazz and Tucker and Dad again._

"Danny... Are you ok?" His mom was leaning as close as she could, looking very much like she wished she could hug him.

Danny realized he'd been holding a breath and exhaled quickly, leading to a short coughing fit before he drew in another shaky breath. He was surprised to realize that he wasn't crying and the ache in his heart was acute, but manageable.

"Yeah…" He nodded, eyes slipping from hers for a moment before rising again. "I think… I think a part of me had already… realized…"

"It's ok. You don't need to say any more."

Danny coughed roughly. Then, boldly, he asked a question that he'd been avoiding for a long time.

"How is it back home?"

His mother was silent and he looked at her. Her expression was oddly shuttered.

"Have you heard anything? What's it like—"

"I haven't." His Mom interrupted suddenly. Then she gave him an odd, sad expression and shook her head. "I haven't been to Amity Park since I formed. I don't know what's going on there."

"But Mom…"

"No, Danny. That's all I have to say about that." His mother's voice was firm, a familiar warning in her eyes.

Danny suspected she was hiding something. He briefly considered calling her out on it—insisting that she tell him more. But another part of him was begging him to let it lie—he couldn't go back to Amity Park now anyway. That part of his life was done. Maybe his mother was lying, maybe she wasn't. What good would it do to pry, especially when she had that look on her face?

Danny didn't want to spend his last moments with his mom arguing.

"Ok," He let go with a smile which she easily returned.

This time, when silence fell Danny could feel the heaviness settling into his limbs. His eyelids were drooping, though he fought hard to keep them open.

"Come now," She hummed with a fond look in her eyes. "I think it's time for you to go to bed."

Danny shook his head in denial.

His mother clucked her tongue. "You're sick; you need all the rest you can get."

"I don't want to sleep." He protested. "You'll be gone by the time I get up."

He saw the smile fade from her face at these words and was sorry for it, but it didn't change the truth.

"I'll always be looking over you, Daniel." She told him.

"It's not good enough. I want to see you and talk to you. Will you visit me again? Can you promise I'll see you again?" His words were intentionally cruel, given what they'd just been talking about, but his mother's eyes stayed calm and the gentle look remained on her face.

She opened her mouth and hesitated before speaking. "I will see you again. I promise one day we will see each other again. Now come," She stood and, with some coaxing brought Danny to his feet as well and guided him back to his window.

"Careful." She told him as he stepped over the sill.

A huge yawn made his jaw crack and tears sting at the corner of his eyes. He blinked the moisture away, then sent his mother a wry smirk. "Mom, I was sneaking in and out of windows for a year back home, I think I—" The toe of his left foot caught on the sill and he gasped as he went stumbling forward, barely catching himself against his bed.

"Are you okay?" She asked and he nodded as he squeezed the sting out his left toes with one hand.

"There you go," She chided quietly. "Now you know why you should always listen to me."

"Or else end up with broken toes?" He whispered back sarcastically.

"That's right." She offered him a cheery grin that made him momentarily stare, a dull pain in his chest.

His bed was largely occupied by two tiny eight-year olds. Sasuke had taken over one corner and Naruto, despite his small limbs, had somehow managed to spread-eagle himself in such a way that he took over the rest of the bed.

Knowing the blond kid slept like a log, Danny didn't have much trouble shifting Naruto back over to one side of the bed. He was more careful around Sasuke, trying not to disturb the blankets next to the boy as he crawled back in to his bed.

He tried to sleep. But after only a few seconds of laying with his eyes closed, he found himself sneaking glances upward. He felt like he was five again, anxious and fearful after a bad dream, making sure that his mother hadn't left him alone.

She must have seen his glances because she offered him a soft smile. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere tonight. Sleep. I'm here."

The sensation of security those words gave him was difficult to describe. A weight he hadn't realized he was carrying was lifted off his chest. Under his mother's watchful gaze he felt safe for the first time in a very long time.

Sleep overcame him soon after.

* * *

 **:o:**

 **END PART V**

 **To be continued in PART VI – NARUTO**

 **:o:**


	6. PART VI - NARUTO

Hello!

So the response to the last chapter was above and beyond what I was expecting. Thank you all for continuing to be awesome, supportive readers :)

This may just be the longest chapter yet (scratch that. It totally _is_ the longest). It's also possibly my favourite so far. I'm pretty excited to hear what you guys think of this one! Even just letting me know if you like the story so far is enough to make my day.

Part VI. Enjoy!

* * *

 **:o:**

 **Ectoplasm and Chakra**

 _When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth was far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply_ ordinary _in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel._

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: _Sholay_

 **:o:**

* * *

 **:o:**

 **PART VI - NARUTO**

 **:o:**

* * *

When foreigners came to the village, Danny finally understood why everyone had stared at him so much in the beginning. It wasn't that Konoha was small enough that people knew or could recognize every resident. Rather, it was simply that foreigners stood out. Starkly. Whether it was their slightly-off style of dress, or the way they walked, or simply the way they expelled carbon dioxide, they were _different_ , and they attracted the curious eyes of every person they passed.

They were a pair: one man and one woman. The man wore a long set of heavily embroidered robes and a wide brimmed straw hat that shadowed half his face. The woman was similarly dressed in flawless decorative robes dyed in colors that complemented her partner's. While the man's face was hidden, hers was visible and painted.

Without fanfare, they moved through the village, leaving a quiet cloud of intrigue in their wake. Then, claiming a spot of open space, the man abruptly stopped and pulled a long flute from his sleeve. The first few notes silenced the bustle and gossiping of passer-bys. With the next few notes, the woman started to sway and then the crowd began to gather.

Danny had been on his way back to the apartment he still resisted calling 'home' and had been privy to this entire display. He slowed, then turned his steps to join the gathering, intrigued. He'd been living in this village of Japanese ninjas for half a year but still this display seemed strange and exotic.

The woman was very attractive. That was the first thing he noticed. He didn't know the dance but understood the elegance of her movement. He couldn't help but stare, entranced. From the way most of the men in crowd were surging forward to toss coins into the offering bowl, he wasn't the only one appreciating the display.

It wasn't clear how long he'd been standing there when a voice at his side broke him out of his reverie.

"Ooo… She's so pretty!" Naruto proclaimed and Danny, not having noticed the other arrive, looked down at the kid in surprise. The tones of the flute turned soft before ending on a drawn out unhappy-sounding note. The dancer drifted forward, bent her knees to gracefully sweep up the collection basket, then rose up again in one fluid movement.

Naruto dug around in his pockets. "I think I got some change still."

Apparently finding some, Naruto started to weave through the crowd toward where the woman was collecting donations with a sweet smile and a bow.

Danny blinked. "Hey… wait a sec," He struck forward and was repelled by the wall of people. Grunting, he began squeezing and pushing past people.

Spotting Naruto's conspicuous orange pants and blond hair, he reached out and pulled the boy to his side by the shoulder just in time for them both to pause as a rush of fabric swirled through the air before them.

"Any change to spare?" Came a melodious voice.

Danny swallowed hard, his thoughts effectively scattered by the pair of large, intense dark eyes watching him intently.

"I, uh… uh…" Danny stalled as his mind inexplicably went to the wallet he'd left on the table in Vlad's lab months ago. "…No?"

The woman took on a mildly contrite expression. She pushed her lower lip out in a pout.

"No? Are you sure?"

Danny, by this time, was able to collect his thoughts enough to recall that he did in fact have this week's pay on him. But the dire straits of his current financial situation were a strong deterrent. Not only did he have his own rent and food to take care of, he had Naruto and Sasuke to think of. Naruto, who loved Ichiraku's Ramen and never seemed to have enough money for rent, and Sasuke, who only ever seemed to buy tomatoes and sweets when he went grocery shopping. Danny shook his head with more certainty.

"Sorry."

The dancer drew back a touch, head tilting as she regarded him with a confused expression. It was like she was unaccustomed to being refused. A pink tongue wetted red lips and Danny was distracted enough by the action that he didn't immediately react when she bent, placing her face inches away from his own.

Her eyes narrowed and her lips parted in a little smirk.

"You're an interesting one, aren't you?" She asked rhetorically. "You know, it's quite rude to experience the entertainment then not offer any compensation for your enjoyment." She told him.

Danny could only blink in stupefaction.

"But," She continued. "You have such pretty blue eyes that I think I'll let you off this time." Her hand, pale with long, painted nails, came up and traced a curved pattern from his temple to his chin. Danny strove hard to hide the discomforting shiver caused by that touch.

The woman straightened but before she could turn away, Naruto called for her attention.

"Wait lady! I have some money!"

Danny shook off the vestiges of his shock just in time to watch Naruto thoughtlessly giving away what was likely his food money for the next few days.

"Aw…kid…" He sighed, passing his fingers through his hair.

Moving lithely, the woman folded to sit daintily on her ankles so that she was level with Naruto. She favoured him with a charming smile.

"Well! Aren't you such a warm-hearted child…" She reached out and cupped Naruto's face, tilting it until he was looking right into her eyes. Danny stiffened as he had the sudden, inexplicable urge to snatch Naruto away from the woman's hold. Her expression made him intensely ill at ease.

"Yes, you are another interesting one, yes? Perhaps even unique. What's your name, little one?" The woman asked, her eyes penetrating as they never broke contact with the child's.

"Naruto!" The boy chirped happily. "And yes, I am very interesting! And also that other thing you said."

The woman laughed and sent the boy one last piercing look, then gradually let go of his face. The way she dragged her hand away was almost reluctant.

She stood, and threw a look back over her shoulder at the boy. "Perhaps we'll meet again, Naruto." She said with a wink, before sauntering away.

No they wouldn't. Not if Danny had anything to say about it. There was something entirely too calculating about that woman. Her honeyed smile did not match the sharpness of her eyes. The way she had looked at Naruto had unexpectedly made his mind flash back to how Vlad used to look at Danny's mother. Danny thought on that for a moment, trying to isolate the emotion.

Calculation? Desire? Hunger… Lust…?

Suddenly completely unwilling to consider that line of thought further, Danny simply resolved himself to making sure the woman never came near Naruto again.

"Hey, kiddo. Let's get outta here." Danny suggested to Naruto.

"Aww… but I wanna look more!" Naruto whined.

"Well…" Danny thought quickly. "You know Mr. Akira just received a shipment today from the north and he always offers a discount on shaved ice on the first day. I was thinking we could get some… We'd have to go now though, since the stores are closing soon. 'Course, if you want to stay…"

"No! Let's go, let's go!" Naruto hopped and grabbed Danny by the hand, pulling the teen away from the dancer.

A sly grin grew across Danny's face. "Are you sure? We could stay—"

" _No_ , we're getting shaved ice. You said!" Naruto insisted. "Can I choose any flavour I like?"

Danny had a sudden vision of ramen-flavoured shaved ice. "Um…"

"C'mon, _please?_ "

Naruto was giving him watery-eyed pout and Danny rolled his eyes. "Fine." The flavours couldn't be _that_ strange, right?

Naruto grinned toothily and let go of the teen's hand to dash ahead. "Come on! Come on! What are you doing?"

Danny had stopped to look back. He had slowed to a halt as he saw the flute-player was standing apart from the crowd. The man was turned toward them, seemingly watching them leave from the shadows of his straw hat.

"Nothing." Danny said at length. Decisively, he turned on his heel and put his back to the man. He smiled at Naruto. "Let's go."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Danny woke the next morning to the sound of his windows rattling. A glance outside revealed trees flagging in a medium wind and a splatter of rain.

By the time he had dressed and descended to the ground level, the grey sky had darkened and the rain had crescendoed into a tropical downpour that soaked through his hood and clothes hardly two steps out.

The receptionist at the hospital, upon glimpsing his sorry, soggy self shivering in the entrance of the hospital, had covered her mouth in a poor attempt to hide her giggling.

"Got caught in the rain?" She teased.

" _Rain!_ You call that rain!" Standing close to the doors, he had to raise his voice to be heard over the racket created by water hitting dirt. " _That_ is a torrential hurricane! A storm! I had to leave my bag at my apartment!" The rain would have ruined the leather, not to mention his books.

Grumbling, Danny stood on the threshold and rung out the wide corners of his short sleeves and ankle pants. Peeling his hair away from his clammy face he noticed it was also long enough now to wring out. Sighing, he swept his hair back, then winced as he felt drips of water trickle down his neck and under the collar of his shirt.

Just then, Shizune entered the reception room. She saw his waterlogged figure and grinned widely.

"Welcome to the rainy season." She said.

"Season? There's going to be a whole _season_ of this?" He had no idea how he was going to handle this. "How… How do you even get to work?"

"You sound like you had no idea this was coming. It's been cloudy for days now."

"Cloudy does not automatically equal rain." He informed her.

Shizune actually looked at him in surprise. "One day, Danny, you're going to tell me all about this strange place you come from. It sounds quite amazing."

"Oh, I don't know if it can quite measure up." Danny sent her a lopsided smirk. "After all, there aren't any overbearing, bossy, know-it-all ninja doctors there."

Laughing, he dodged as she made to smack him over the head with her clipboard.

"Idiot." She said, clearly smothering a smile. She noticed the creases in his clothes where he'd been attempting to drain the water from his clothes. "Wringing yourself out isn't going to help. You're going to have to grab a pair of scrubs."

Danny gave an audible groan. He hated the hospital's sterile surgical uniforms. No one wore them unless there was a serious emergency with possibility of infection. He'd stick out like a sore thumb all day.

"No complaining." Shizune scolded. "You're the one who didn't think ahead and bring a change of clothes. Now hurry up. The rain makes a lot of people sick. We have a lot of work to do."

Knowing he had to suck it up, Danny gave Shizune a nod. "Yes, boss!"

That evening, Danny was tidying up in preparation to leave work when Shizune approached him again. In her hands were a pair of boots and what looked to Danny like a hooded plastic cape. He gave them and her an inquiring eye.

"Here." She offered him the boots and cape. "I don't know if you've looked outside but the rain hasn't let up all day. People are saying some streets are flooded."

"Oh! You didn't have to." He blinked in surprise.

"Just take them and don't cause a fuss. Don't be too grateful either. They didn't come out of my pocket."

He frowned as he took the cape and boots. "Then where?"

Shizune averted her gaze. "You know after the Uchiha massacre many of the family's personal items were sent here—"

Danny was horrified. "No, no, no. I can't take this. If Sasuke finds out—"

"There is nothing here that belonged to his immediate family." Shizune interrupted. "And everyone owns a coat and boots. They're generic enough not to be recognized."

"Doesn't Sasuke… inherit everything from his family?"

Shizune nodded. "This will all go back once we're done with it. Call that a loan."

Danny looked down at the coat gripped between his hands.

Sensing his unease, Shizune put a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, if you're as good friends with the kid as it seems, I doubt he'll mind you wearing that for a few days until you get your own."

Danny wasn't so sure. Unwillingly, he began wondering what had happened to all his sister's things. Jazz hadn't been wearing her headband on… _that_ day…

"Look," Seeing he was still unconvinced, Shizune tightened her hold on his shoulder and spun him so he could look out the window. It was dark and the rain was coming down so hard Danny could see the lights from the houses reflecting off the ground. The effect made it seem like the houses were sitting over a lake, instead of solid ground.

"Rats and other things come up from the ground when it rains like this. It sounds harsh but the living have to live. Wear the boots. Get your own tomorrow."

 _The living have to live_.

He took the boots and coat.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

It was a difficult journey to return to his apartment. The roads were more shallow lake than ground and it was dark. The street that his apartment was on was narrow and submerged under feet of water. Determined to reach his apartment, Danny had wadded on through the muddy water, his unease growing as the street dipped but the water level did not. Multiple times he nearly slipped into the black depths and all he could hear in his ears was loud applause of the rain hitting the surface of the water.

' _Would be nice if I could still fly…'_ Unlike usual, he didn't immediately squash down on this thought, instead allowing himself to linger over it nostalgically. He'd had his ghost powers for about a year. He'd lived half that long in Konoha. And he'd lived for years in Amity Park without powers. The memory of his powers should be fading. At the very least, his longing for them should be dying down. But then why did they still feel so vivid? Why did he still instinctually reach for the cold comfort of his ghost-half every time he was in danger?

Danny continued walking down the sloping street, now hanging onto walls, trees, poles and whatever else he could to keep his balance. The water was passed his waist. The galoshes he had on were too big and he was struggling not to lose them in the water.

There was no one else in sight. The night was dark, the shops had all closed down and all the sane, reasonable people had apparently retreated to their houses to wait for the water level to lower.

That, or maybe they had used their stupid teleportation-ninja tricks, Danny thought irascibly, even as his unease grew.

He was still quite a far way from his apartment. But the water level continued to creep upward. He was in chest-deep now and keeping upright on the soft, shifting dirt street was difficult. The movement of the water as it flowed down the street tugged on his poncho and his ankles, insistently trying to pull him off balance. If the water got much deeper, he'd be swimming—

Just then there was a loud splash to his right, He jerked around, then let out an exclamation of revulsion and surprise as he saw something large and _furry_ , flailing in the water. Shizune's warning about rats streaked across his mind and Danny leaped backwards.

The too-large galoshes slipped halfway off his feet. He stepped down on uneven ground and slipped. Barely managing a yelp of alarm he dropped into the water.

Danny could swim, but the suddenness of his fall, along with the fact that it was nighttime and everything was pitch black, momentarily disoriented him. One boot was slipping off his foot.

Struggling to right himself and come up for air, Danny suddenly felt a strong hand clamp down on his shoulder and fist into his collar. The unknown person heaved him upward and Danny's head and shoulders broke the surface of the water in a loud rush. In one powerful motion, Danny was pulled completely out of the water and thrown onto something dry.

Danny gasped in much-needed air as he lay, dazed, on some hard, curving surface. Then, recovering quickly, he looked up and into a familiar one-eyed face.

" _Kakashi?_ " Danny spluttered, incredulous.

"Yo." The masked ninja, crouched comfortably on his heels, raised a hand and saluted Danny.

"Wh—" Danny looked down passed his hands, realized that he was laying on a raft made out of large logs, then looked back up. "Wha—" Mind whirling, his gaze snapped around before something important occurred to him and his eyes widened. "My boot!"

Instantly, Danny was on his knees and scampering to the edge of the raft.

"Whoa there. Easy. Unless you want another drink?" Kakashi said as the raft rocked. In spite of his words, the ninja's tone was still level and unconcerned.

"I'm missing a boot. I need to get it back." Danny said urgently. Then he turned to Kakashi. "Don't you have a ninja-spell-thing for that?"

"Nope." Kakashi answered succinctly.

"Urgh…" Danny ran a hand over his face in agitation. Then, after a few moments of silence, he spotted something floating in the water a little way down the street.

"There!" Danny pointed with excitement. Seeing Kakashi wasn't moving, Danny cast his gaze over the raft. "It's my boot. Don't you have anything to paddle with?"

"Nope." Kakashi repeated, this time offering Danny a shrug. "The raft was kind of an on-the-spot thing too."

"What…?" Danny goggled. Then seeing that the boot was in danger of floating away, he simply buckled down and began paddling with his hands.

It took some effort, but Danny managed to manoeuvre the raft to the boot. With a sigh of relief, he bent, scooped the boot out of the water and emptied it of water before thankfully sliding it back onto his foot.

"See? Boot." He gestured to the galosh as he looked up at Kakashi with satisfaction.

"So it is." The man said thoughtfully.

With a huff, Danny flipped soggy hair out of his eyes and peered at Kakashi through the rain. "So? Now that's out of the way, wanna explain what you're doing here—conveniently floating by on a random, empty, flooded street in the middle of the night?" As he questioned Kakashi he looked up at the man, a frown growing on his face when he noticed that the man's usual scarecrow hairstyle was still perfectly in place—despite the fact that it was still raining cats and dogs. Danny's own hair was a solid sheet plastered unpleasantly over his forehead and face.

"You've pretty good eyes, being able to pick out the boot in this darkness." Kakashi said, as though he hadn't heard Danny's question. "Even I could barely see it."

Danny shrugged. He had no response to that observation. "You didn't answer my question."

Kakashi didn't respond for a long while, then, "I got lost."

Danny sent the man a withering stare. "You've already used that one on me."

"It's a nice night for a float."

"No… No. It really isn't."

"My radio doesn't have reception, so I was going over to the Hokage's place."

"That is… Wait… What?" Danny choked. "You guys have _radio?_ "

"Haven't you seen the satellite dishes?" Kakashi asked blandly.

"Yes… but… but…" Danny was at a loss for words. But the rain was still coming down hard and it had been a long day at work. Danny threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine. Fine! Radios! No TV, no washing machines, no cars, but _radios_ are fine, so are refrigerators and spotty electricity. That makes about as much sense as a Box Ghost. But y'know, who am I to judge? It's a freakin' _ninja village_." And Danny sat himself down and began to paddle the raft toward his apartment.

"What would that be: a _Box Ghost?_ " Kakashi asked at length.

"Oh, it doesn't matter. _Not anymore._ " Danny grumbled the last under his breath. Then, tossing a look back at Kakashi he added, "think about it this way: it makes as much sense as your hairstyle."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow rose.

"Look at it!" Danny flapped a boneless hand at the offending hair before returning to his paddling. "It's raining buckets out here and your hair is just sticking straight up in the air, like it's cemented on or something!"

It was difficult to tell, but from the way Kakashi's eye closed Danny had a feeling the man was smiling at him.

Letting out a brief sigh, Danny glanced at the man's hands—neatly folded over his knees. "You aren't going to help paddle…?"

"You're doing a splendid job." Kakashi complemented and made no further move to help Danny.

Danny sighed, but relented and kept paddling. A few moments passed, and Danny realized the rain was letting up. A few minutes later and the rain had stopped completely.

The dark street was eerily quiet in the wake of the noisy rain. Clouds covered the moon and stars from view but now that the rain had stopped the lights from the houses on each side of the road reflected brightly off the flooded street. They lit the street in mesmerizing tints of yellow and orange.

Danny felt a prick on his conscience and bowed his head before looking back at Kakashi.

"Thank you." He said, offering his belated gratitude. "For pulling me out of the water."

"I was in the neighbourhood." Kakashi dismissed with ease. "You would have been fine."

"You're a ninja." Danny pointed out. "You can just poof away home any second. But you're still here keeping me company. I appreciate that."

Kakashi said nothing in return to that for a long while. Eventually the man did speak up, but it was to ask a different question.

"Why was getting that boot back so important?"

"Huh…" Danny looked at the galosh. "It's not mine. Shizune—at the hospital—gave it to me to borrow." Danny could have left it there, but after Kakashi's goodwill, Danny felt he owed the man something in return. So he explained. "It's not hers either. It came from the items that were kept after the Uchiha Massacre…" He allowed a short silence to fall after that admission. "I couldn't lose it."

"I doubt Sasuke will have need of them." Kakashi responded reasonably.

Danny shook his head. "That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

Danny hesitated a long while before simply sighing. "I don't know. I can't put it into words. But it feels wrong, so it can't be right."

"It _feels_ —" Kakashi repeated and his tone was such that Danny felt a self-conscious heat rise in his cheeks.

"Nevermind." The teen shook his head. "Anyway. You said that this raft wasn't a planned thing, yeah? So that means what—you ninja'd it out of think air?"

"It's called a _jutsu_. But yes." Kakashi sounded amused.

"So you can make rafts but you don't have a spell— _jutsu—_ for making paddles? Or for grabbing boots out of the water?"

Kakashi was quiet and when Danny looked back at the man he saw he was making that closed-eye smiling face again. Danny had a feeling that Kakashi was toying with him. It made Danny think of Vlad and he wondered about that. Was Kakashi trying to test him for some reason? Why would he bother?

"We're here." Kakashi said mildly and Danny snapped out of his thoughts and noticed they'd arrived at the entrance to his apartment.

Normally there were a few stairs leading up to a small wooden porch in front of the door. This was lucky because it meant that now, though the stairs were underwater, the door was not.

Danny grabbed onto one of the wooden rafters holding the awning over the porch to slow the raft. As he did, the door to the apartment opened.

"Danny!" Naruto, haloed by the light in the hallway, hopped up and down in the threshold. "You're late!"

"Naruto! How'd you know I was coming?" Danny asked.

"I saw you coming from my window. Come on up, I just made some ramen! You can have some too!"

Danny chuckled, "Ok. Ok." Then remembering Kakashi, Danny raised a hand. "Oh, I should probably introduce you: this is—" Danny turned but halted mid-introduction when he saw there was no one on the raft with him.

"Huh? What were you going to say?" Naruto asked quizzically.

Danny shook his head. "Nevermind."

"Why are you so late, anyway?" Naruto huffed as Danny got up on the porch and hooked a foot up to tug off his boot then repeated the process with the other foot.

"Oh, no reason. It was just… a nice night for a float." Danny grinned at the confused Naruto and he could have sworn he heard an amused chuckle coming from the awning above him.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"Oh, you found your own already?" Shizune asked with surprise as Danny handed her back the cape and boots a couple of days later.

"Yeah. I managed to pick them up yesterday but didn't want to return these to you wet." Danny explained as he tied on his hospital apron.

"You should find time to get a new pair of shoes too," Shizune gestured at his worn sneakers. "Those look like they're ready to fall apart."

"Urgh," Danny grimaced. "All anyone wears here are _sandals_ though."

"So?" Shizune looked honestly confused by Danny's reluctance.

Danny wiped a hand across his face. "The purpose of shoes is to protect your feet. Flip-flops, though they don't protect your feet, keep you cool when it's hot."

" _Flip-flops?_ " Shizune repeated the word quizzically. Danny ignored her confusion as he continued. He'd been holding in this rant ever since he got to Konoha and there was no stopping it now. His hands rose to gesticulate and emphasize his points as he spoke.

"The shoes everyone wears here aren't even proper sandals! They cover all the foot— _except the toes_! Why would you ever want that? They're like military boots, but with a high likelihood for getting your toes caught on things. And you guys are supposed to be ninjas! You're supposed to be jumping around and fighting and all that stuff—why would you leave just your toes uncovered? It's an _obvious_ vulnerability. All you have to do is stub your toes on a doorframe, or a tree root. You _can't_ tell me it's practical. The _only_ purpose for it that I can possibly think of is to show off your toes. Like… like… if I was an artist and I was really good at drawing toes—that's what I'd do: design open-toed sandals for my characters."

Danny huffed as he finally finished his tirade, feeling like he'd finally gotten a weight off his chest that he'd been carrying around for months.

"Goodness, Danny, if you don't want to wear the shoes, then don't. But don't whine to me then when people keep treating you like a foreigner. You think _our_ shoes are weird? I'm constantly seeing you nearly trip up on the ties of yours. Where did you even find shoes like that?"

Danny looked down at his sneakers and noted that, indeed, the laces of one shoe had come undone. Balancing on one foot, he brought his other knee up so he could reach down and quickly tie the laces.

"These are from back home." Danny said somewhat defensively. "Everyone wears them there."

"MMhm…" Appearing to have lost interest in the conversation, Shizune turned her head down to examine her clipboard. "Ah, this might be interesting for you. We admitted a bone fracture last night."

"Fracture of what?" Danny questioned. Shizune had turned to walk down the hall at an efficient clip and he hurried to follow her.

"Open and displaced shaft fracture of the tiba and fibula." Shizune said without inflection even as Danny cringed, feeling his lower leg twinge with sympathetic phantom pain.

"She'll be going into surgery in a couple of hours. I'd like for you to sit in. You can take the opportunity to study what the assistants do. You might not be able to use chakra but there are still many ways you can be useful." Shizune opened the door to a patient's room and greeted the man sitting on the bed as she checked the board attached to the foot of the bed.

Danny allowed Shizune to complete her round of the patient. As soon as they stepped out of the room and closed the door, he turned to her.

"I can sit in on the surgery? I thought I wasn't allowed to observe you using chakra. That councilman, Danzo, said…"

Shizune stopped mid stride. " _Danzo_ … isn't going to be a problem for you _or_ for me anymore." And Danny saw she had a grin on her face.

"Whaddaya mean?" Danny blinked. "Someone offed him?"

Shizune chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous." She scoffed, even as Danny grumbled under his breath _"Ninja village, how'm I to know?"_ "It's been a long while in coming but the Hokage finally removed him from the council."

"He can do that?" Danny wondered suspiciously. He didn't know much—or anything at all, really—about politics, but he would've imagined that the Hokage shouldn't have the ability to fire a councilman. Something about division of powers. Or something.

Shizune nodded. "Yep. And now that Danzo is off the council, I have permission to get you more involved in hospital matters."

" _More?_ " Danny groaned.

Shizune chuckled. She ducked into another room to check on a patient. When she came out picked up the conversation without problem.

"You're the one who's been asking me to be more open with you. And besides, you're a breath of fresh air around here. Look…" Her voice dropped as though she didn't want what she was going to say next to be overheard. "Don't think I haven't noticed what's been going on. I've seen the other hospital staff dump off work they don't want to do on you, just because of who you are. Many medic-nins… they join the hospital because they're hoping to meet my mentor, or because they want the glory of being one of the first to master the ten-hand technique…"

Danny guessed this ten-hand technique was some uber-powerful medical ninja ability. He couldn't help it though, when his mind simply conjured up an image of Shizune smacking a patient in the face ten times while yelling _'HEAL!'_. Sensing his thoughts would not be appreciated, he worked hard to smother his humour, using the back of one hand to wipe his smirk off his face.

Shizune, meanwhile, continued speaking, oblivious to Danny's thoughts. "But you're not in it for gain. You looked after Sasuke diligently and that was an entirely thankless job. I've noticed this and many other things. And I want to make it so that you can have some way to advance here. Even without chakra, if you can gain status then the others will be forced to stop looking down on you."

Danny was surprised by the fact that Shizune was thinking about his well-being and he offered her a warm smile.

"Thanks." He said.

She shrugged. "You've earned it." She ducked in to see another patient.

Danny, too, had a number of responsibilities he needed to get done before he sat in on the surgery, but he had one more thing he wanted to ask Shizune.

"Why did Danzo get removed from the council. Do you know?"

For a flash of a moment, Shizune looked uncomfortable. Then, the expression cleared from her face. "Oh, it was probably just some political stuff. I don't really know."

Danny sensed the lie, but he bit his tongue and didn't comment. Secrets were a part and parcel of living in Konoha.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"So, how was it?" Shizune asked Danny after the surgery was complete. They were standing near the washbasins, taking turns removing their masks and gloves.

"Amazing!" Danny effused with honesty. "In the textbooks I read, the only way to deal with a fracture like that is to drill screws through the bones. But you just put your hands over her leg, did that green glowy thing and _bam!_ Leg fixed. We weren't even in there half an hour!"

Shizune let out a brief laugh. "Ah, well, it wasn't exactly a complex procedure. That's interesting that you saw the glowing though. Usually only chakra users can see that. Can you see all types?"

Danny shrugged. "Not sure what you mean by 'types'. I've seen the green before, but that was before I knew you guys were ninjas. This is the first time I've associated it with chakra." Belatedly, he remembered the trip he and Kakashi had taken to the ninja academy. Hadn't he seen the kids light up with blue power? He thought about this but didn't comment on it to Shizune.

"Green is normally associated with healing. Other combative types of ninjutsu have different colors. Then there are bloodline specific jutsu—the _kekkei genkai_ —those are a whole different matter."

Danny hummed and, mentally, he soaked in that information. Finally, he had an answer to the question of what a kekkei genkai was. Bloodline specific powers? So that meant certain ninja skills could only be passed down in a family. Danny supposed that made sense. It was sort of like the power was genetic. His mind flashed back to that day at the Hyuuga compound, when Neji had rebuffed and warned Sasuke. He'd called Sasuke's kekkei genkai 'useless' to the Hyuuga, but also said that Sasuke would be hunted for his ability once it manifests. Was Sasuke's ability rare?

Danny mentally rebuked himself. Of course it was rare. The rest of Sasuke's family was dead.

"Are they unusual?" Danny asked. And when Shizune hummed in confusion, he clarified. "Bloodline jutsu. Is it unusual for families to have one?"

"Hm..." Shizune shrugged. "More or less."

Danny could tell from Shizune's tone that he'd get no more out of her on that topic, so instead he switched to something else he'd been wondering about. "I was wondering… I saw something during the surgery. The patient… she had another injury on her leg, the one that was fractured. It was a pair of puncture wounds. It looked almost like a snakebite. But for a snake to inflict a bite like that… it'd have to be huge…"

Shizune's face twisted in displeasure. "Yeah. I suppose there's no point in keeping this from you. Higher ranked ninja are often sent out on dangerous missions. That much should be pretty obvious already. The world isn't a safe place, as you likely already know."

Shizune sent him a significant look which was completely lost on Danny. She'd probably meant to refer to the injuries he'd sustained before coming to Konoha, but she had no idea that Danny hadn't been anywhere near Japan when he'd been hurt. In fact, Danny wasn't even sure if he was still in the same _time._ The people of Konoha didn't mark the years in the same way as he knew from home. And besides, Clockwork was, apparently, the self-proclaimed Master of _Time_. For all he knew, the ghost could've sent him to an alternate time. Maybe even an alternate universe.

Danny said nothing though, instead opting to let Shizune continue.

"I don't know all the details but the person the patient was fighting—he's a snake. And I mean that in every way because he's a rotten traitor and he also likes to use conjured snakes to fight."

"And the rest was _hisstory_ , eh, eh?" Danny sent Shizune a cheeky grin and lightly elbowed her in the side.

Shizune let out a brief, exasperated chuckle, shook her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Danny, you shouldn't even try. That was terrible."

"Hey, if it made you laugh, my job is done." Danny's grin faded to a lopsided grin. Then he noticed that their wandering through the hospital had actually brought them to a very specific wing.

"Post-surgery? Why're we here?"

"We're checking up on the patient she should be waking up now." Shizune said as she paused before an unmarked room.

"Really? You don't usually do that in person." Danny commented.

"This patient is a good friend of mine. Anko. I think I've told you about her before—when I recommended that dango store."

"Oh yeah…" Danny did his best to remember. "When Sasuke woke up. What _is_ dango, anyway?"

"Oh ho ho…" Shizune's laugh was ominous. "Don't let her hear you say that."

"So wait, you want me to come too?"

"Sure, I mean, it's always good for you to get experience discharging patients. But also, she's been bugging me to let her meet you. Soooooo… two birds, one stone." Shizune flashed him a grin over her shoulder as she opened the door and Danny realized he'd been had.

"Shizune!" Came the excited greeting from inside the room.

Danny entered and saw that the patient—Anko—was not only awake but up and about. She was standing and walking on her leg with such ease that no one would've guessed it had been broken in half nearly an hour earlier.

"By the beard of the Second, it _took_ you long enough to fix me up! I've been in the hospital since last night!" Anko was complaining to Shizune. Anko was already dressed—in a bizarre skin-tight outfit that looked like fishnet but could also maybe be some sort of especially distracting ninja armour. Danny, who had been working at the hospital long enough to have seen almost everything, still found that he had to force himself not to stare.

"That's what you get for getting yourself beaten up at such an ungodly hour. Next time, work _within_ my office hours, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah, tell that to the bastard snakeface." Anko spat. "It was a set up all along. He knew we were following him from the very beginning." Then, Anko's eyes alighted on Danny and her eyebrows shot up. "Holy Hell, I almost didn't notice you standing there in the doorway all quiet-like. Who're you?"

Shizune laughed. "He _is_ quiet, isn't he?"

Anko pulled on a long trench coat and Danny was grateful because it allowed him to look straight at Anko without feeling like he was going to turn as red as a tomato.

"Fenton Danny." He said and sketched a bow.

"So formal!" Anko smirked. "Ah! So you're the foreigner—Shizune's new underling. Shizune might be all caught up on those stuffy formalities but you don't need to bother with me. I'm Anko."

Danny grinned in response and nodded.

Anko advanced a few steps and stood before Danny. Her hips cocked and arms folded as she looked him up and down. "Huh. Wow. _Wow_. You really weren't kidding, Shizune."

Shizune held her clipboard and seemed to be pouting. "I don't kid. And Danny's _not_ my _underling_."

"He doesn't seem to have any objection to me calling him that, so why do you?" Anko hooked a thumb at Danny.

"Eh," Danny shrugged. "There're worse things to be called."

When Anko continued to stare at him like he was some sort of display model, Danny's patience waned and he frowned, crossing his own arms.

"Look. I _get_ it. I have awesome hair. But you don't need to be so fascinated. Kakashi's hair defies physics, you know." He snarked without heat.

Anko, blinked, stared, then let out a burst of laughter.

"Ahaha! I like him. You should definitely keep him." She said to Shizune, who was looking at her friend in exasperation.

"But seriously, kid." Anko sobered. "How _do_ you do that? I've never seen anyone hide their chakra so well."

"Not hide." Shizune pointed out. "He doesn't have any. Period."

"But you yourself said that was impossible." Anko countered.

"Impossible for anyone living."

"So what is he, then? The white ghost is _literally_ a white ghost?" Anko quipped.

"Of course not." Shizune grumbled. "But like I said—the chakra treatments don't work on him."

"Well, got any explanation for yourself?" Anko directed this question at Danny.

Danny let out an exasperated sigh. "You _do_ realize that I come from a place where there are no ninja, right? I never even heard of chakra or jutsu or anything like that until I came here. To _me, you all_ are the crazy ones. You find out what's so kooky about me, then you can let me know. Otherwise, it doesn't really matter, does it?"

Anko considered this, then shrugged. "Guess you have a point."

"So…" Shizune interjected and drew Anko's attention back to her. "You gonna tell me what happened?"

Anko shifted uneasily. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose. Lady Tsunade deserves to know as well, and only you can tell her."

Danny's ears perked up at that name. _Tsunade_. He'd heard that name before. Was that the name of Shizune's elusive mentor?

"But let's not do it here." Anko decided. "All that waiting around in the hospital has me working up a big appetite!"

"We aren't going to have sweets for dinner, Anko." Shizune said definitively.

"Awww… Poo." Anko stuck out her tongue. "You're no fun. Fine, whatever. I'm meeting Kakashi for dinner anyway. He also wants the full story so why don't you just come along? Then I don't have say everything twice."

By this point, Danny felt distinctly like he'd been dismissed from the conversation. He eyed the doorway and wondered if he should just slip away.

"Kakashi, huh? Then… you mind if I invite Iruka too?" Shizune asked. "I've been wanting to catch up on what's going on with the newest graduates. And, you know, I heard that Kakashi got his first genin group assigned to him a couple of days ago."

" _Genin_?... _Kakashi_?" Anko choked back a bark of laughter. "Did those kids survive the day?"

"I heard he failed the whole team and sent them back to the academy." Shizune snickered.

"No way… I didn't even know you _could_ do that. I hope Kurenai gives him a piece of her mind. She's head of the academy, so she'll probably be the one cleaning up the mess, right?"

"Yep, although I wouldn't be surprised if she starts taking genin soon and leaves the academy to Iruka."

"I can see that. More than I can see _Kakashi_ teaching." Anko said with a laugh.

Danny was still gauging his exit but he wondered if Anko and Shizune weren't being a little unfair to Kakashi. Sure, the man had issues: he had thrown a knife at Danny the first time they met, after all. But Danny could see the man mentoring ninjas… Maybe. They'd be more trained than Danny anyway… probably more used to having sharp objects thrown at them… and less likely to be bothered to the point of distraction by how the man could eat without removing his mask…

"I heard that the test he put them through lasted all night… and they _still_ failed." Shizune said.

"Wait, wasn't that two nights ago? The night it was raining?" Anko questioned.

"Yep."

Danny frowned. Wasn't that the night Kakashi had fished him out of the water?

"Anyway," Shizune continued. "Dinner sounds good. My shift ends at 6."

"Great I'll meet you both outside the hospital then." Anko chirped.

Realizing what Anko had said, Danny, who had finally made it to the door, stalled, "Wait…"

"Both?" Shizune asked.

"Yeah, bring him along. Why not?" Anko shrugged, gesturing to Danny with a flick of her wrist. "He could use a good meal. I mean, look at him."

"Oie." Danny protested.

"Oie yerself," Anko shot back. "You have no high ground. Believe me, I know a bad diet when I see one. When was the last time you had a proper full meal?"

Danny folded his arms self-consciously and refused to answer.

"Aren't you his superior? Aren't you supposed to take care of your staff?" Anko looked at Shizune.

Shizune, for her part was looking at Danny like she was just seeing him for the first time. He saw the guilt in her eyes and rebelled.

"Look, I'm not her charge, or her student. I'm a co-worker. She doesn't have any obligation to monitor my eating habits." Danny protested.

"Whatever, come or don't come. It's up to you." Anko waved a hand at Danny. "But, don't complain later if you miss out on dessert."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

The rest of the day passed smoothly. The sky was bright with the fire of the setting sun as Danny finished his shift. It was raining, but only mildly, and the flooding from the last couple of days had diminished enough that people were once again freely walking around outside. Danny had finished packing his bag and was slipping on his galoshes when Shizune approached him.

"So, will you be joining us?" She asked.

Danny, figuring he should be straightforward, nodded. "I'd like to. I'm not sure if I'll be welcome, but I can't say I'm not curious."

And indeed, Danny _was_ curious. It was the Phantom in him, he guessed, that was so intrigued by the idea of a mystery. He wanted to know more about this 'snakeface' that Anko had fought with.

' _See, Sam?'_ Danny thought as he pictured her face in his mind. _'Haven't lost my sense of adventure yet.'_

Outside the hospital, Anko was already waiting. She was wearing the same fishnet outfit and trench coat and was leaning against the side of the building. There was a small skewer of round balls in her hand. She plucked the food off the skewer with her teeth and then used the sliver of wood to pick her teeth.

"Anko," Shizune admonished. "Sweets already?"

"Whaaat?" Anko complained. "I get in my cardio."

"It's not your figure I'm worried about, it's your teeth." Shizune clarified.

"Whatever. Oh hey, you came!" Anko grinned as she saw Danny. "Danny, right?"

The teen nodded.

"You know, it really is the craziest thing. I can't sense you at all." Anko reflected, and Danny assumed she was talking about his lack of chakra. "You're really gonna have to be careful around ninja. People are gonna think you're sneaking up on them and then you'll be liable to get a face full of iron."

"Oh, believe me, I know." Danny said wryly.

"We were talking about Kurenai." Anko continued and looked up at Shizune. "Maybe we should introduce him to her. Maybe she could tell us what's wrong with him."

Danny objected to the idea of anything being 'wrong' with him, but he stayed quiet.

"But Kurenai specializes in genjutsu, right? I don't think…" Shizune trailed off.

"Apparently she can also enter people's subconscious to 'see their true selves'. Whatever that means." Anko added.

For whatever reason, those words made Danny tense. 'True self'? Danny ruminated over those words. What could that mean—especially for him? Danny had a feeling he didn't want to know and so made a mental note to avoid this Kurenai person in the future.

They walked down the street and Danny let Anko and Shizune chat and catch up as he quietly looked around and appreciated the sight of Konoha at sunset. Earlier that day, the rain had been coming down hard enough that the splashes of water hitting the ground almost resembled grass. Now, the water was roughly at ankle level and it was raining less. The sight of the fiery sky reflecting off the buildings and off the water was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. The trees and the foliage too, struck him as incredibly green.

They arrived at a small restaurant. Everything was outdoors, but there was a raised wooden platform on which benches and tables were lined up. Overhead was a canopy constructed of wood, metal, plastic and fabric. The rain pattered loudly off the canopy as they stepped up on the wood platform.

They took their shoes off and Danny looked at the pile of unattended shoes with uncertainty. But when Anko and Shizune lay their footwear down and walked away, Danny was left with no choice but to follow suit.

They picked a table close to the edge of the canopy and sat down. Shizune grabbed a paper menu for marking off orders and Danny only had to glance at it to know reading it would be far beyond his comprehension level.

It wasn't long before they saw a familiar figure round the corner of the street and approach the restaurant at a jog.

"Hey, Kakashi!" Anko waved.

The man didn't stop jogging, ignoring the entrance to the restaurant entirely, he instead came straight for the table.

Danny's eyes widened. "Is he gonna—"

Kakashi approached the platform. There was a guardrail on which he planted a hand. Effortlessly, Kakashi gracefully vaulted over both the rail and the table. He landed in a crouch on the other side of the table and ducked so that he was out of view of the street.

Danny stared at the man, who was crouched almost at his feet. At some point during the jump, Kakashi had taken off his shoes and he was holding them in one hand. With his other hand he put a finger to his lips as he winked at Danny.

"Kakashi, what—" Shizune's words were abruptly drowned out by a much louder voice.

"KAKASHI, WHERE DID YOU GO, MY YOUTHFUL RIVAL!"

Around the corner, Maito Gai skidded into view. He ran full tilt toward the restaurant then slammed to a stop mere inches away from crashing into the railing. Danny stared at the man, who was drenched in water head-to-toe. His spandex suit was so shiny it reflected the setting sun like reflectors on a bicycle. Gai's soggy hair clung to his forehead and hung in his eyes.

Danny mentally noted that gravity-defying hair wasn't a ninja thing.

Perhaps, Danny thought, it was Kakashi's kekkei genkei…

"Have you forsaken our eating competition, Kakashi?" Gai questioned the air around himself. Then, clenching a fist, the man snarled and cinched his eyes shut. "No! Of course not! For you, my youthful rival, have passion unlike any other! I should have never questioned your conviction." Gai looked up and Danny could see the man's eyes actually shining with unshed tears. "Kakashi! Your passion has stoked the fires of rivalry in my heart anew! For my faltering heart I challenge myself to climb up Hokage hill 50… no… 100 times! With one arm tied behind my back! You there!"

Danny froze, stiff with fear and eyes wide as Gai pointed directly at him.

"Yes! I remember you! You are the youth who has experienced burning chagrin—the unquellable bitter fragrance of defeat at the hands of those more talented than you—and the unfaltering will of iron to overcome weakness!"

"Um… um… uh… Wh…" Danny stammered. He looked to Shizune for help but she was busy unhelpfully dissolving into a fit of giggles. Anko was staring at him with a smirk that told him clearly that she'd be no help.

"You were the kind-hearted youngling who timed my race with Kakashi!" Gai continued.

"Um… Stopwatch!" Danny remembered abruptly. "Yeah…"

"I have need of your impractical shoe tie that constantly appears to be undone! Would you surrender it honourably for my fight against unfairness?!"

"I… but…" Danny looked over at his sneakers in the pile with the other shoes. The laces _were_ undone but that was because he'd taken the shoes off. He didn't really want Gai taking the laces. Still, he inexplicably found himself getting up and pulling the lace out of his shoe.

"Alas!" Gai grieved when Danny held up the lace. "It is not of sufficient size. You are kind! Though unhelpful… I will have to rely on my own strength of will to keep my hand behind my back! Alternatively I shall track down rope! Kakashi! I am coming!" And then, Gai offered Danny, Anko and Shizune a quick salute before running away.

"Hahahaha…." Shizune struggled to catch her breath. "Your face! Oh, hahahaha…."

"You can put that back now, though honestly, I'd just recommend you get a pair of sandals." Anko said.

" _Oh_ , haha, don't mention sandals around him." Shizune continued laughing. "He feels very strongly against the sandals."

"I'll do it later." Danny decided, knowing it would take too long to thread the lace back into the shoe.

"You could use it to tie back the hair that's always getting in your way these days." Shizune suggested.

"Or better yet, just get a haircut. A tie would make you look like a foppish old man." Anko said.

Danny had a sudden vision of Vlad, standing with his hair slicked back into a ponytail. Then in an odd moment, he remembered the long, fiery hair of the Phantom-Plasmius ghost. Did that thing tie its hair back?

But Plasmius had horns, so why had Phantom-Plasmius had fiery hair?

Why did it even _matter?_ The memories of that time felt so distant. The ghost was probably locked up in a lab by now. Who cared how it kept its hair?

' _What if he wasn't locked away…?'_

' _What if the ghost was too strong for the GiW? For Vlad? For Valerie…?'_

This was the first time such thoughts had occurred to him and they were an icy hand clenching hard around his heart.

Kakashi had raised himself off the ground and Shizune had made a displeased remark that he was dripping everywhere. Ignoring the medic-nin, Kakashi took a seat at the table and looked first at Danny then at Shizune then at Anko.

"You didn't tell me there'd be others." Kakashi said, and there was a hint of displeasure in his normally bland tone.

' _Did I fail everyone?'_ Danny was busy wondering to himself as he sat back down at the table. ' _Should I have stayed in Amity Park? I'm nothing without my ghost powers but it was still my responsibility…'_

"I invited them. Iruka is joining us too." Anko said. And that was clearly all the response she intended to give.

"I'll find out what happened either way." Shizune said.

' _Should I have stayed and died?'_ Danny wondered.

"And him?" Kakashi looked at Danny.

"I can vouch for him." Shizune said.

"And what does _he_ have to say?"

Danny, his thoughts still whirling and shifting to remember responsibilities he'd left behind half a year ago, was in no mood to fight with Kakashi. Looking at the man sharply, Danny, eyes narrowed and he rose out of his seat.

"Would you rather I leave?" He asked without preamble.

"Danny, come on." Shizune sighed. "Don't be like that."

Anko merely sat back, watching the scene play out with amusement.

Danny locked gazes with Kakashi and for a long while the man merely watched him. Then, eventually, Kakashi must have read what he wanted out of Danny's eyes because he broke eye contact and gestured at the table.

"By all means. Stay."

Slowly, Danny sank back into his seat.

The stand off had focused not just Danny's body, but his mind too. And his thoughts had thankfully stopped spinning. He'd made his choice half a year ago. For better or worse he lived in Konoha now. Naruto and Sasuke needed him. They grounded him in this reality. He'd have to trust that those he left behind in Amity Park could take care of themselves. But for now he was _here_ which meant _here_ was where he had to live.

 _Stay._ Kakashi told him.

He would.

"Hey!" Came a voice from behind Danny and he turned to see Iruka approaching the table. Iruka greeted Anko, Shizune and Kakashi with smiles and then he turned to Danny with a surprised, but pleasant grin.

"Hey, Danny! Good to see you again! So you'll be joining us for the evening?"

Danny nodded. "I will."

Iruka sat down and they began passing around the paper menu. When the thing made it's way to him, Danny was actually impressed to find that some of Sasuke's lessons had started to sink in: he recognized the symbols for 'rice', 'fish', 'pork', and a few more. But still, by and large the paper was gibberish to him.

Shizune, always observant, didn't take long to notice his predicament. She paused in the conversation she was having with Anko to turn to Danny.

"Sorry," She apologized with a smile. "I forgot." She reached over and he handed her the menu with a small smile.

"So what do you want? Something with meat, probably. Noodles or rice? A soup?"

"What's the matter, he can't read or something?" Anko questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Pushing away the lingering embarrassment at being called out. Danny instead opted for a self-deprecatory laugh as he raised a hand. "Guilty as charged."

" _Really?_ " Anko looked legitimately surprised and Iruka and Kakashi were looking at Danny too.

"But your spoken language is exemplary. You have some speech quirks but I can hear almost no accent. You even know our colloquialisms." Iruka was amazed.

Danny shrugged, still smiling his hand had fallen to rest on the back of his neck.

"It _is_ odd." Anko agreed.

"There are probably genjutsu that can teach language…" Iruka said thoughtfully. "Is that what you're using?"

Shizune shook her head and answered for Danny. "He doesn't have chakra. And since he doesn't have it, he's immune to most forms of chakra-manipulating jutsu."

Danny's eyes narrowed a bit in thought as wondered on those words. Was that true? He didn't know about that. After all, Clockwork had put the spell—the mark of ' _Ajna'_ he'd called it—on the base of Danny's neck. And Danny had done some research. He was reasonably sure that that was a chakra point.

Maybe it was like the ghosts and the fox on Naruto's shoulder. Maybe his chakra was simply invisible to these ninja?

That seemed to be an odd stretch.

"Immune, you say? That would be quite the incredible talent." Kakashi spoke up in response to Shizune. "Do we know that for sure?"

"Well, none of the medical treatments worked on him." Shizune said uncertainly.

"That in itself only means he's easier to kill." Kakashi said mildly and Danny raised a brow, an odd sense of surreality falling on him. Was this how Sam, Tucker and Jazz had felt when he'd tell them they were more fragile than him in a fight?

Well… he hadn't been _wrong_ …

"Do we have any way to test this?" Kakashi was still speaking.

Iruka looked appalled. "Kakashi! He's a civilian!"

"So? Imagine if he can resist genjutsu. Imagine how useful such a skill would be to our cause—"

"No. You're crossing a line here, Kakashi."

"I agree." Shizune said. "Kakashi, Danny isn't a ninja."

"Yet you brought him _here_ , to sit amongst _us_. And here _he_ is, actively interested in getting information from us." Kakashi pointed out

"No, Kakashi, I won't have this discussion continue any further." Iruka's voice was final. "You have used many unconventional methods in the past but even _you_ must admit dragging a civilian into things would be beyond reproach. You _must_ know, after all, you were the one who sent three genin back to my class by discounting them as immature and unprepared."

"They _are_." Kakashi stressed.

"And what, he is somehow different?" Iruka gestured at Danny, who quietly wondered why they were all getting so heated over this. He would have to research what 'genjutsu' was.

"Stop." Anko spoke up for the first time. Her voice, though quiet, was strong and surprisingly the table did fall quiet. "This is not a productive conversation. More importantly, your bickering is going to put me off my food. Topic change." She grabbed the menu out of Shizune's hands.

"We're getting Yakiniku. Not the most complicated thing to order. I'll add in an extra order of meat and rice for you." She jabbed a finger at Danny. "And there we go." She got up to deliver the menu to the cook.

"Oh!" Danny, a thought having suddenly occurred to him, hopped up and followed Anko.

"What? You a vegetarian or something?" Anko asked him with some irritation.

"No." Danny frowned. Then, shaking his head, he let go of his own defensiveness. Forcefully, he wiped Sam's face out of his mind. "It's not that. It's just—is there a way to get two more meals… but for take out? I'll pay."

"Hm… Yeah. Can do." Anko paused at the counter and made the changed to the menu before handing them to the cook. "You want those delivered at the end?"

"Yes." Danny nodded, then added, "Please."

Anko nodded and looked at the chef. "You got all that?"

"Aye aye, Miss Jonin." The man gave Anko a smart salute.

"Jonin…" Danny repeated. "That's the highest, right?"

"I guess you could put it like that. Though really there's also the ANBU, the Kages and S-Ranks…You know, Kakashi's right about something: you really are showing an interest in us." She shot him a look.

He shrugged. "I like helping out at the hospital. But there's only so much I can do without chakra. But simply _learning_ more isn't beyond my ability."

They sat back down at the table and seemed to enter in the middle of a conversation.

"They were idiots." Kakashi was saying as he rested his head on his hand. "Nevermind their complete lack of focus, they couldn't even work together long enough to track me."

"Kakashi, that's what _you're_ there for." Iruka rolled his eyes.

"I'm there to teach ninja. Not to babysit brats who argue so loudly they're a liability to themselves. My expectations aren't high, Iruka. I just expect my team to be willing to be just that: a _team_."

"That… forgive me, Kakashi, but that just sounds very unusual coming from you." Iruka said slowly.

"Perhaps you are correct." Kakashi's eyes drifted to the side. "But that is where I stand."

"So interesting…" Shizune mused. "So different from what I expected. I honestly expected you to have given them an impossible task and then failed them because you didn't want to take up the charge of 'babysitting' as you put it."

Kakashi let out an amused sound. "Well, I can't say I didn't consider it. Fortunes have it, I didn't even need to worry."

"What _was_ the test?" Iruka asked.

"The test was no more or less than I had to overcome at their age." Kakashi said ambiguously.

Iruka opened his mouth and he might have said more, but just then the dulcet tones of a flute reached them and a hush fell over the crowd at the restaurant.

The sun had nearly set, but there were still lingering hints of twilight: streaks of pink and orange lighting up the edge of the horizon. The rain had stopped completely and the moon was gaining light in the sky.

The melancholic tune of the flute was almost ethereal and over the hill outside the restaurant, the foreigners came into view. Haloed in the waning light and draped in elaborate robes, the two looked otherworldly.

The small hill had escaped flooding and path of uneven stones trailed a path down. Slowly, the flute player and the dancer descended.

They were coming toward the restaurant, Danny realized with some discontent.

The couple stopped right before the restaurant and the flute player backed into the shadows as the dancer stepped up to play her role. The patrons of the restaurant were entranced and slowly a crowd began to gather. Same as last time, the dancer was hypnotic and beautiful. Even Danny, who held reservations about the couple and a lingering distaste for the way the woman had looked at Naruto, couldn't take his eyes away.

Eventually, the music stopped. People applauded. Wallets were fished out and a fountain of coins rained into the donation basket.

The woman bowed, smiling beatifically, ever gracious.

Then she stepped up into the restaurant and Danny swallowed.

She didn't take off her shoes. That was the thing that struck Danny so sharply. He felt offended. Everyone else had taken off their shoes. But this woman went unbothered, tracking wet dirt from the soles of her shoes across the restaurant.

Eventually, the woman made her way over to his table. Iruka, Anko and Shizune all offered money with smiles. Then the woman turned to Danny.

Her eyes seemed to change—was that recognition?—but she made no other indication that she remembered him as she extended the basket.

"A pittance," She beseeched. "For a weary traveller."

This time, he didn't have much trouble shaking his head. "Sorry." He offered.

"You're sure? Not even a bit of change for the poor…" Her tone…twisted. Danny shivered and as he looked into her eyes he finally noticed it—a twinge of glowing red. Chakra.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't got any money to spare." He said again. And it was entirely true. He had enough on him to pay for the three meals that he'd bought and that was all. If he gave anything to this woman, he'd have nothing left for Naruto and Sasuke's meals.

The woman pulled the basket back but her gaze was intense. She hummed "That's twice now I've been spurned by those pretty, pretty blue eyes. So cruel…be careful now, a third time and I might think you don't like me."

She was about to move away when Danny's mouth blurted out the thoughts in his head.

"Your shoes." He said.

"Hmm?" She looked back at him, eyes half lidded with disinterest.

"You didn't take them off." And he glanced down at her feet.

She smirked. And it was a cold, sharp expression. She turned away then and moved in on the last person at the table that she had yet to proposition.

She batted he eyes at Kakashi. "Any change for…"

"No." The man's response was blunt, cold and brooked no argument.

The woman was visibly affected. Immediately she drew back, the smile dropped from her face and she stared at Kakashi.

"What, no pandering expression, no coy smiles? The boy must've thrown you off your game." Kakashi drawled.

Danny could see the shrewd calculation going on behind the woman's eyes. Then she put on a simpering smile and sketched an insincere bow.

"Forgive me. I… have business elsewhere." She with a twirl of fabric, she swept away from the table and glided down the off the wooden platform. There she was joined immediately by her companion and together they stole into the night, quickly disappearing from view without a second glance.

The two entertainers left utter silence in their wake. Gradually though, the volume returned to the restaurant as people returned to their conversation and food.

"Well," Kakashi spoke up, filling the silence around the table and drawing everyone's attention to him. "I think we can clear up one question."

"Yeah? What's that?" Anko asked.

Kakashi paused as a server came around and poured tea for everyone, then set up the table for the meal.

"He," and Kakashi inclined his head in Danny's direction. "Has at least rudimentary ability to throw off genjutsu."

"Huh? When?" Iruka sounded confused.

"The dancer. The control was subtle, but it worked well enough to draw out a pretty penny from each of you."

"Oh, I barely remember…"

"Urgh, what a bitch." Anko was immediately irritated as she checked her wallet. "At least I didn't give too much."

"That kind of behaviour should be unlawful." Shizune frowned. "How did they even get in to the village?"

"That is odd, Danzo himself approved of their entrance request." Iruka said.

Danny however, was busy making a connection in his head. "Oh, oh! Wait! You mean… with those two… so that… does that mean that genjutsu is, like… _mind control_?"

"In a way," Iruka looked at Danny with a frown.

"Not just _control_. All types of chakra manipulation skills that deal with the mind are genjutsu. Control, deception and illusion being the most common." Kakashi clarified.

"Urgh…" Danny couldn't help this quiet reaction of revulsion. He remembered only too well Ember McLain's concert featuring her single hit 'Remember'. He remembered _only too well_ being hit by her love spell.

 _Sam_ …

Danny's dislike toward the flute player and the dancer shot to Freakshow levels. If there was one thing Danny hated more than being tied down and restrained it would have to be _mind control._ If only ninja were ghost-like enough that he could put them in the Ghost Zone. "Need a better thermos." He grumbled under his breath. "Can't call in the GiW like for Freakshow."

If the others at the table noticed his seemingly nonsensical mumbling, they ignored it for the sufficient distraction of seeing the food arrive. Even Danny couldn't stay upset as the scent of grilled meat immediately set his mouth to watering.

He was aware though, that he was surrounded by people who were all older than him, and these few months in Konoha had taught him basic social norms. So he waited with baited breath and shadowed everyone's movements as they all took their chopsticks. He murmured the required 'We humbly receive this food' and he watched them each take food, taking mental notes of how much was polite to take and how they held their chopsticks.

It was a good thing they each had their own bowl of rice. He gathered the chopsticks in one hand, the bowl of rice in the other and, thusly armed, he strove forward.

The first time he pinched the meat, it slipped out from between his chopsticks and back onto the grill. On his second attempt, the meat slithered off the grill and fell onto the wooden table. Feeling the heat rise in his ears, Danny was sorely tempted to pick up the meat with his fingers. Nevertheless he persisted and picked the piece of meat up off the table. This time he had a firm hold.

He heard a snicker and didn't have to look up to know it was Anko.

"You can take another piece." Shizune said, meaning to be kind, but just making the situation worse.

"It's fine. Five second rule." He said, realizing belatedly that that saying likely made no sense when translated into Japanese, he simply surrendered and popped the piece of meat into his mouth.

He paused, and his eyes closed with pleasure as he savoured the taste.

After he'd swallowed, his eyes popped open and this time he didn't hesitate before reaching for another piece of meat. This time there were no hiccups, he rested the meat on the rice before putting it in his mouth.

This one, fresh off the grill, was hotter and even better. Danny felt his stomach grumble quietly in happy satisfaction.

The others were talking and Danny was glad for this small slice of solicitude. He didn't bother paying attention—they were engaging in small talk, catching up or discussing people that Danny didn't know. Normally, he'd probably put an effort into paying attention—maybe to learn more or glean important information. But the food was _just too good_.

He took some of the vegetables, ate them with the rice and even that was so good he found himself reaching to take more again and again.

Too soon, his rice had run out and he realized he was probably giving a bad impression by stuffing his face. Guiltily, he put the empty rice bowl down and set the chopsticks down as well.

"Did you enjoy?" Shizune asked him with a smile once she saw he'd stopped eating.

Iruka laughed. "Did you see him? He ate with the all the voraciousness of a starved boy. I'm sure he enjoyed. But come, There's still another piece of meat left—go on."

The others also nodded and Danny was only too happy to oblige. He was careful with the chopsticks and managed to manoeuvre the meat into his mouth. He chewed happily.

"Now, I really want to know about this place where you come from." Anko said with interest. "You can speak our language fluently, but you can't read, can't write, and cant even use chopsticks. How the heck does that happen?"

"Hey," Danny objected, then he swallowed and continued. "I'll have you know, I'm a lot better with these torture devices than I was when I got here." He gestured at the chopsticks.

"It's true." Kakashi weighted in. "A few months ago he was holding them like a child."

"Only because _you_ told me to!" Danny pointed out.

"Your ramen was getting cold. I felt sorry for the noodles" Kakashi shrugged.

"Well… _you_ … _you_ have a mask covering half your face!" Danny shot back as though this was a valid taunt.

Kakshi's visible eyebrow rose.

" _It makes no sense!_ Like _toeless shoes!_ "

"Danny. We're not going through that again." Shizune sighed.

"One day, you'll see. Just wait. The logic will be irrefutable and you won't be able to ignore the facts." Danny promised.

"What are you two even talking about?" Anko wanted to know.

"It really doesn't matter." Shizune said quickly, forestalling anything Danny would have said. "But Anko, we're finished with dinner. Why don't you tell us what happened to you to put you in the hospital?"

With that comment, the levity was immediately sucked from the atmosphere. Anko's expression turned dark and the other three ninja leaned closer to her.

Danny too, quietened and focused on listening.

"Well… you know Orochimaru's been slinking around the borders of Konoha for the past while."

Danny focused on that name. _Orochimaru._ Where had he heard that name before?

Anko, meanwhile, was still speaking. "The earliest he was spotted was around the time right after the Uchiha Massacre."

Backs stiffened all around the table at the mention of that terrible event.

"You don't think—" Iruka began.

"It's not my place to speculate." Anko said, clearly uncomfortable. "Whatever his reason, the Third thought it might be a good idea to send a team to keep an eye on him. Who better to send than me, yeah? A snake to watch the snake." Anko's grin was bitter.

"Anko…" Shizune said softly.

The ninja shook her head. "Nevermind that. Our goal was to see if we could follow him far enough to get a sense of what cave he's holed himself up in."

"And? Did you find it?" Kakashi pressed.

Anko shook her head. "Nowhere close. He knew we were following him. He set up a trap and we just walked right in. I… don't remember exactly how he got the upper hand on us. It must have been some sort of illusion. Suddenly he was just _there_ and I was dodging snakes."

"Did he _say_ anything? _Do_ anything?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing different from the usual slimy vitriol. A lot of taunting, some vague hints that he has something big planned, a hefty does of insults…"

"Something planned? Like what?" Iruka asked.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, it won't be good for Konoha." Anko said.

"Do you think…" Shizune hesitated. "Maybe he's come looking for another apprentice…?"

Danny actually saw the atmosphere around Anko turn black. Was that ill intent? Bad emotions? Chakra reacting to how much Anko hated Oorchimaru?

"But who could that be? I'm sorry Iruka, but from what I can see, this batch of genin seem unremarkable." Anko's words were straightforward and blunt.

"I know." Iruka agreed with an honest nod. "They're good, but no one head sticks out higher than the rest. No exceptional talents or prodigies."

"Maybe he had his sights set on Uchiha Itachi." Kakashi said and everyone at the table hushed.

"Kakashi…" Iruka said warningly.

"I'm just saying what everyone else is thinking. We know those two have met, have spoken. And if Orochimaru collects prodigal talent then Uchiha Itachi certainly fits the bill."

"But he's _gone_." Anko said irritably. "Orochimaru is _not._ That would imply that there's something or some _one_ else that the snake wants still in the village."

"Maybe the youngest Uchiha?" Iruka suggested. "What was his name—Sasuke?"

"Doubtful. That boy hasn't displayed any impressive talent. He hasn't entered the Academy yet. Hasn't even awoken his kekkei genkai." Kakashi said dismissively.

Danny felt like they were being unfair to Sasuke. But then he remembered the Hyuuga's words: _'Hunted the five nations over for your kekkei genkai.'_ If that was what was in store for Sasuke then maybe it was better for him to be _normal_.

The tallest nail was the first one to get hammered down. Or so the saying goes.

' _Unless it's actually the smallest_.' Danny thought cynically. ' _Then all the other ones get hammered down first and the smallest one is left alone. Then it really does become the tallest.'_

Was he talking about Sasuke? Or himself? Danny wasn't sure.

"I don't know what Oorchimaru is after. All I know is that he's here, keeping an eye on Konoha and we were unable to follow him to his hideout." Anko summarized.

"So… in other words, you weren't able to figure out anything new or of any use whatsoever." Kakashi intoned, his words cutting deep.

Anko winced. But her gaze hardened. "We did find out one thing. Once I realized it was a trap, I sent my team back to scout the route while I kept Orochimaru busy. They discovered signs of a camp. Not just that, but they found tracks to indicate that multiple people had passed through the area. It was close to the sealed grounds."

Anko paused and a thoughtful silence fell over the group. Danny wondered what Anko was talking about. What were these 'sealed grounds'? Why were they sealed? How did you even _seal_ ground?

"I'm not sure I understand the significance." Iruka mused. "Why the sealed grounds?"

"I don't know." Anko shook her head. "But whatever it is, it can't be good."

Kakashi and Shizune said nothing.

Danny thoughtfully turned the clay cup of green tea in his hands. He remembered now where he'd heard Oorchimaru's name before. It had been when Danzo had told the Hokage they should throw Danny out of Konoha.

' _Remember what happens when we allow foreigners in to Konoha?'_ Danzo had warned. _'Remember Oorchimaru?'_

It sounded like Konoha had some threatening people opposing it. Dangerous people, given what had happened to Anko. It took tremendous force to break the leg so completely that bone broke through skin. If that injury had been sustained in a _fight_ …

Danny remembered his own skirmish with the three genin who had been harassing Naruto. He remembered how one of the men had cracked the wall with his bare fist.

' _If I still had my powers…'_

Danny quickly shut down that train of thought.

Shaking himself back to awareness, he looked up at the sky. The sun had set. Danny wagered dinner had taken a couple of hours so it was probably around 8pm. He would have to leave soon.

Just as this occurred to him, the server came around with the bill.

"Don't worry about it." Shizune smiled at him. "I'm your supervisor so it's my treat."

"Aww, did my comment earlier make you guilty?" Anko teased.

"Ah," Danny blinked with surprise. "Thank you." He smiled gratefully. "But I—"

"I insist." Shizune said, her voice firm.

Danny let out a chuckle. "Ok, ok. But I need to pay regardless. I ordered two meals for take out."

"Huh?" It was Shizune's turn to look surprised. "For who?"

"DANNY!"

As if on cue, a familiar blond came bounding down the street. Naruto came to screeching stop in front of Danny's table. Stepping up on the edge of wooden platform, Naruto blithely ignored the stares and unfriendly looks he was getting from other guests and the restaurant staff. He hung on to the wooden guardrail so he wouldn't fall backward.

"Hey Naruto." Danny grinned at the boy.

"You're late!" Naruto pointed at him. Then looking past Danny, Naruto's offended expression morphed like quicksilver into a happy grin. "Hey Iruka!"

"I told you I was going to be late when we met for lunch, remember?" Danny told him, then he looked between Iruka and Naruto. "You know each other?"

Iruka smiled and nodded.

"Iruka buys me ramen sometimes! He's awesome!" Naruto answered. Danny ahh'd in understanding.

"Actually, I think the more pertinent question would be how do you two know each other?" Iruka said, still smiling.

Both boys answered at the same time.

"Danny tried to save me from some bullies."

"Naruto stole my laundry."

Naruto squinted his eyes at Danny. "Did _not!_ I _borrowed_."

"Only 'cause I caught you." Danny quipped back. "And what's this about _tried to save_?"

"I mean what I said!" Naruto nodded emphatically. Then he appeared to notice the empty plates of food on the table. His face visibly fell. "Awwwww… you ate without me?!"

"Sorry, kid. I was just _sooo_ hungry." Danny patted his belly with a grin. In his peripheral vision, he noticed Shizune watching the exchange with a smile.

Naruto's face of dismay was comical. The boy was about to blurt out something when a server came over carrying two bags.

"Here's your take out…Oh." The server frowned as she noticed Naruto. "Is this kid bothering you?" She tsked and her lip curled. Danny was sure she was about to say something unkind to Naruto so he quickly intervened.

"No, no. Not at all. He's with me." Danny said with his best grin. It was a familiar expression—one he'd used on his sister many-a-time when trying to convince her he wasn't a half-ghost, messed-up head-case.

"You…" Now the server was looking at Danny with some suspicion. "You know this kid's trouble, right?"

"Not at all." Danny repeated, holding his smile. Leaning over to Naruto, he hissed out of the corner of his mouth. " _Naruto,_ _get off the platform._ "

"Huh?" Naruto looked down, saw his grimy shoes on the baseboards of the restaurant. Danny saw the edges of the boy's mouth twist and knew his expression had turned crafty. The boy's eyes rose and locked on Danny's.

Danny's gaze was even. Naruto's eyes were mischievous.

Danny felt the moment that he'd won and Naruto sulked, stepping down.

"I think we'll just be paying now." Shizune said and as she stood from the table the others did as well. Shizune's expression was polite but cold and the server was clearly made uneasy by it.

"Ah, y-yes. Of course, ma'am." The server bowed. "At the counter, if you will." She hurried away.

"Yeah, that's right, walk away." Naruto teased and pulled a face at the server's retreating back.

"Naruto," Danny sighed. "Remember what I was saying…"

"Yeah, yeah. I know, I know" Naruto nodded his head. "Discretion… blah blah blah… valour… blah blah blah. Just wait. When I'm Hokage _then_ everyone will respect me."

Danny smiled. It wasn't the first time he'd heard Naruto say this. Becoming Hokage was a dear dream of the boy. Danny's smile was weary though. Being a powerful heroic figure wasn't always all it was cracked up to be. "Be careful." He intoned softly. "People as a mass are generally very stupid. Being Hokage isn't going to change that. Instead of contorting yourself into the person you think _they'll_ respect, become someone _you_ respect. Don't worry, they'll catch on."

Naruto's face scrunched as he ruminated over those words.

Danny felt a hand clap down on his shoulder.

"Wise words, Danny!" Iruka praised. "You've given a lot of thought to this?"

Danny shrugged and turned back to the others. Kakashi had his lewd novel out, and Shizune was watching him closely. Anko looked down at Naruto.

"Hey, kid, wanna join us for dessert? We're going to grab some dango." Anko smirked at Naruto.

"Ooo! I'd love to!" Naruto practically hopped up and down. Then he seemed to remember something and he looked at Danny. "Oh, but we should probably head over to Sasuke's. He's probably waiting for us. Maybe we can get some for him too?"

" _Sasuke's?_ " Shizune repeated, her eyes narrowed.

Danny shrugged. "Maybe." Recently, the Uchiha had developed an odd love-hate relationship with anything sweet. Sasuke tended to buy a lot of sweets for himself. But the last time Danny had _brought_ Sasukesome sweets, Sasuke's eyes had burned and in an unexpected fit of violence he'd thrown the food across the room before storming out. Danny had a suspicion that sweets reminded Sasuke of his family in some way and were therefore a sensitive topic. "Maybe we'll avoid bringing him any dango."

Anko looked at Danny, scandalized.

"Oh wait, so those two meals you bought, they're for Naruto and Sasuke?" Iruka clarified. When Danny nodded, Iruka looked surprised. "Oh, well, then, here! I'll chip in too for their meals."

"Same." Shizune nodded.

Anko shrugged. "Just got paid, so might as well."

Danny was baffled and he held his wallet, unsure what to do. "But then, how…?"

Kakashi had somehow made his way to Danny's side. The man put a hand on Danny's shoulder and the teen found himself being steered toward the exit of the restaurant.

"Just wait outside." The man said. "We'll join you."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"That was a nice thing you did back at the restaurant, standing up for Naruto like that." Iruka told Danny as they walked to the sweetshop.

Danny shrugged off the praise. "I didn't do anything special. What I'm wondering is how that server could just treat Naruto like that?"

Danny looked up and noticed that Iruka was avoiding his eyes.

"So… You're heading to Sasuke's place?" Shizune directed the question at Naruto and Danny.

"Yep! He's teaching us how to read. We'll probably spend the night there too—we do that sometimes 'cause being alone in that place can get creepy. At least the ghosts are gone."

"Naruto…" Danny sighed. Sometimes the kid just spoke too much. Iruka, Anko and Shizune were all looking at Naruto in interest.

"Wait, _Sasuke's_ teaching you how to read?" Shizune blinked at Danny. "Does he—"

"I haven't heard him speak yet." Danny shook his head. "It sorta makes the process a lot slower." He chuckled ruefully. "Actually, on that point, I've been meaning to ask—is there a library somewhere in Konoha?"

"There is… on the western side. You have to cross a bridge over the river that runs through town. It should be easy to find if you follow the road. But English is your native language, right? I don't think you'll find any books in English there."

"English." Anko snapped her fingers. " _That_ makes sense. Finally, something that makes sense about you."

Danny glanced at Anko and did his best to hide his unease at her continued interest in his background. Tearing his eyes away, he answered Shizune's question. "I won't be looking for English. Just… maybe some children's books or something with a lot of pictures."

Kakashi conspicuously raised his manga higher over his nose.

"No!" Danny exclaimed and pointed at the man. "Not like those! Stop putting words in my mouth!"

Kakashi merely raised an eyebrow.

Naruto came over and hopped on his toes. "Oh, is that manga? Can I see?"

"No!" Danny said abruptly and grabbed hold of Naruto's hand before the boy could try and reach for Kakashi's book.

Kakashi suddenly whisked the book out of view and Naruto made a sound of disappointment.

"You said there were ghosts at the Uchiha compound." Kakashi looked down at Naruto. "What did you mean?"

Naruto opened his mouth but Danny beat him to it. "Oh, you know, just an overactive imagination. Naruto didn't actually _see_ any ghosts, right, kid?" Danny looked at Naruto and purposefully squeezed the boy's hand, doing his best to tell the kid to play along.

Naruto looked at Danny for a second and then his eyes widened. "Oh! Oh… well… that's true." Naruto took his hand from Danny and folded his arms behind his head as he grinned up at Kakashi. "I didn't actually see any ghosts, dattebayo!"

Kakashi looked down at Naruto, then looked up and locked gazes with Danny. Danny smiled and met Kakashi's eyes evenly. He knew Kakashi didn't believe their lie, but really, what was the man going to do?

Later, after they had bought their sweets, Naruto and Danny parted ways with the adults to head over to Sasuke's place. Naruto looked up at Danny as the teen pulled piece of dango off its skewer with his teeth.

"Why didn't you want me to tell them about the ghosts?" The boy asked once they were alone.

Danny rolled the sweet in his mouth and took a moment to think as he swallowed. He ran a hand through his hair. "I think… I think it's pretty unusual that I can see ghosts."

"I'll say!" Naruto agreed. "And it's cool!"

Danny smirked. "Cool though it may be, I'm also still a foreigner. When I got here, the council was looking for any reason to kick me out. Unusual skills could very easily fall under the category of 'Reasons to throw Danny out of Konoha'. You see?"

Naruto swallowed his own dango—practically eating all three pieces at once—and nodded, looking worried. "'Kay. I won't mention it to anyone else."

Danny nodded in return and looked forward to continue walking.

When he felt a small hand tentatively slip into his, he smiled. He took Naruto's hand confidently and tucked both their hands into his pocket as they continued down the path to the Uchiha compound.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

 _Days later…_

Danny ran down the dirt path, clutching tightly to a plastic bag filled with books with one hand while the other held up the hood of his waterproof poncho.

The rain had started after he'd left the library and it had escalated quickly. Unfortunately, there was no cover nearby. But if he could get to the bridge then maybe he could find some shelter.

His boots splashed up water with every footstep. Night had fallen. The sky was black but in places the water gleamed white with reflected light.

The mud under his feet was slick. When the path took a slight downhill his boots lost traction and he gasped, throwing his arm out to steady himself as he slid down the hill unsteadily.

Without his hand holding his hood, a gust of wind blew the plastic back and Danny was instantly blinded by both the rain and his hair. The cacophonous rain nearly deafened him and he hurried to pull his hood back up.

' _Intangibility would've come in handy right now_.' He thought, and even the little voice in his head that usually spoke against his ghost half agreed.

He continued running. He could see the reflection of the light on the rushing waves of the river. The bridge came into view and Danny increased his speed.

He saw that the river had flooded. It was moving fast and had risen so high that it was spilling over onto the old wooden bridge.

Danny squinted as he saw dark figures moving on the bridge. People? _'There are people on the bridge!'_

They looked to be young: around his age or even younger. Two figures were standing at the end the bridge, looking down at the water rushing under them. One boy was standing in the center of the bridge with his arms spread and face tilted upward, enjoying the feel of the rain.

They were obviously children just having fun, but as Danny neared the bridge he got a foreboding feeling. The wind was strong, as were the waves of the river. The bridge, on the other hand, was shifting unsteadily under the feet of the kids.

Danny rushed toward the bridge. Maybe he'd yell at the kids to get off it as he passed. He jumped, skidded down an incline and made a beeline for the bridge.

Mere footsteps away from stepping on the bridge, a bizarre feeling touched Danny. The hair on the back of his neck rose and the sharp smell of ozone hit his nose.

Then the sky cracked open and Danny was blinded by a bright light.

He skidded to a stop and slipped backward as he back-pedalled away from the bridge. He dropped his hood in favour of catching himself from falling. As he did, the booming clap of thunder made his heart thrum and his head ache.

Still blinded by the lightning, he couldn't see anything but he could hear the screams. Hastily, he scrambled to his feet. As his vision cleared he saw what damage the lighting had wrought: wooden posts were on fire—a section in the middle of the bridge had completely caved away under the pressure. The river raged in the empty spot where the bridge was missing. Two people—kids or young teenagers—Stood on the far side of the bridge. They were screaming in panic.

Danny's mind sharpened into focus as he remembered that there had been _three_ people on the bridge.

"He fell in! He fell in!" Screamed a boy on the other side of the bridge.

Over the din of the rain, Danny could barely hear them but he knew what he had to do. He jumped onto the bridge, stepped up on the tallest log he could find and stared out into the river.

He was stripping off his bag, coat and boots even before he spotted the figure thrashing in the water. The kid was quickly being swept away. He tossed the bag of books and coat into a pile.

"GET HELP!" He screamed to the two panicking teens on the other side of the bridge.

Then Danny gasped in a deep breath and dove into the water.

The rush of the cold river was a shock to his senses. He wasn't prepared for the water to be this cold. The rush of the waves battered him and he was momentarily knocked senseless when the water buffeted him into a large, immovable rock.

It was so cold, his limbs felt like lead and his clothes sank him.

Disoriented, he momentarily couldn't find the surface of the water. Panicked, he strove to take a gulp of air but his lungs burned when he ingested water. His eyes snapped open, wide, and a sudden fear gripped him.

' _No!'_ He objected to his panic. ' _You've survived worse than this! Pull yourself together, Fenton!'_

Gritting his teeth he flailed out his arms and legs and one of his hands scraped against something hard.

He looked down and suddenly he could see the bottom of the river. He looked up and he could see the surface of the water.

Using all his strength, he righted his body, bent his knees and kicked the ground away from himself.

His head broke the surface of the water and he was gasping loudly, intaking half air and half water he choked and gasped again.

A wave washed over him, submerging him momentarily, but he scissor-kicked back to the surface and took in air.

This time, his ears caught the sound of gargled screams. Danny's head swivelled and he saw a small child struggling in the water. The child's arms swung wildly in the air and he looked like he was having trouble staying above water.

Danny surged forward.

His nose and throat burned. Against the rain he could barely see anything. But by far it was the fabric of his pants weighing his legs down that was the biggest problem.

Hissing, he spared the choice a bare second of thought before quickly shucking his trousers and kicking again, swimming after the drowning child in only his t-shirt and boxers.

The river helped to sweep him forward, almost too fast, and he scraped hard against a few rocks. But he was slowly gaining on the boy so he forgot the pain, forgot the icy coldness of the water and swam faster.

"Help! Help me!" Came the cry of a young boy.

As Danny came close, the boy's eyes fixed on him. They were wild and shining with fear and panic.

"Calm—Calm—!" Danny made an attempt to tell the boy to calm himself. But the moment Danny was within arm's reach the boy lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Danny's neck and sank both of them underwater.

Instinct made Danny shove away from the boy and he came up choking and coughing out water. Danny was unharmed but the boy was not so lucky. While underwater, Danny saw the boy tumble and then jerk as his head struck something. After Danny had gotten a gasp of air, he dove down again and grasped the boy by the collar and kicked upward with as much strength as he could.

When they both came up, Danny immediately began swimming toward land. He didn't have time to check if the boy was conscious, he needed to get them to land.

It was impossibly hard to manoeuvre while dragging the boy behind him. With every stroke, he plunged underwater and he knew he was pulling the boy under with him. His arms were burning. He didn't think that the shore was getting any closer.

Seeing a large rock bearing down on them. Danny angled himself to protect the kid as well as he could, then grunted out as his side slammed into the large surface of rock. Immediately, he gripped onto the rock with one hand, then heaved the boy up to bellyflop onto the rock next to him.

Danny gasped desperately for air and took a moment to rest. He pushed his hair back and squinted against the rain as he tried to see if he could see anyone along the shore. Maybe this was good enough? Maybe they could wait for help here…

Lightning arced through the sky once, then twice and Danny gasped as a flash of light struck a tree on land, setting it ablaze. Booming thunder followed and Danny was already gathering himself and the boy. They couldn't stay in the water. They had to get to land or they risked being electrocuted.

Preparing himself, he took a breath and plunged back into the river.

He barely made it back to the surface. The boy in his hands was underwater. He tried to heave the unconscious body up but the water buffeted both of them into a roll.

He couldn't do this. He wasn't a hero anymore. Not Phantom, just Fenton. What had he been thinking? Now he'd doomed himself and the boy—they were both going to drown—!

" _The Great Molasses Flood!_ Mr. Fenton you had _better_ pull yourself together and stop feeling sorry for yourself! You have a job to do!"

Danny nearly lost his grip on the boy as he let out an outcry of surprise when he saw the ghost of Mr. Lancer materialize before him.

"Swim, Daniel! SWIM! SWIM!"

Danny shook off the surprise and focused on the teacher's words. The word echoed in his head like a mantra.

 _Swim. Swim._ _ **Swim**_ _!_

His eyes were closed but, inexplicably, it felt like it got marginally easier to pull himself through the water. His fingertips felt cold but he pulled forward with one arm while kicking hard behind himself.

Suddenly, his feet hit the ground and with an exclamation of surprise and relief he scrambled on all fours to pull himself and the boy forward. He slipped, multiple times, cutting himself on sharp rocks but soon enough he was able to stand without fearing that the tide would pull him back out.

"By _The Lightning Thief_ , Fenton, get out of the water!" Lancer urged.

Danny, still panting and unable to speak, simply nodded and shoved himself to his feet. He gripped the boy under his arms and pulled him backward until they were both on the grass.

Danny looked at the line of trees then remembered seeing the lightning strike a tree only minutes earlier.

"Not the trees…" He gasped out.

Mr. Lancer nodded. "Very good. Definitely don't sit under a tree—they're tall conductors. Stay close though."

Danny was already scurrying around to kneel at the boy's side. He placed a finger near the boy's nose, then leaned down put his cheek near the boy's nose.

"No air… no air… he's not breathing! I don't—he's not breathing! I don't... I don't remember how to do CPR!" Danny panicked.

"Calm _down,_ Mr. Fenton!" Mr. Lancer commanded and Danny took a couple of steadying breaths. "Now… I don't know if I…"

Danny heard Mr. Lancer pause in his speech but paid no more mind. It was like the brick wall that had kept him from thinking had just crumbled and the steps were flowing through his mind. He hurried to follow them before he could forget.

Finding that there was still water in the boy's mouth, he turned the boy onto his side and used his fingers to empty the water out. Pulling the boy back onto his back, Danny pulled the boy's chin back, opened the mouth, plugged the nose and blew. He waited two seconds then blew again.

Instantly he felt the body underneath him heave. The relief nearly made him limp, but he moved quickly to roll the boy onto his side as the boy began to vomit. Once he was done, Danny again cleaned out the boy's mouth. Then, a gentle smile formed on his lips as the kid groaned and opened bleary eyes.

"Hey there kiddo, you're going to be ok, alright?" Danny said softly.

The boy moaned. "H-head hurts… mmm… feel sick…"

Danny's eyes widened and then he quickly moved to reposition himself behind the boy. He gently pulled the boy's head into his lap and grazed his fingers along the back of the boy's scalp.

"Ow…" The boy complained. "Uh…" His eyes began to droop.

"No… no, no, don't go to sleep." Danny insisted. "C'mon. Here, OK. My name is Danny. Can you tell me yours?"

"Ch-Choji." The boy answered quietly.

"Ok, that's good. Great. That's a nice name. Can you tell me how old you are, Choji?" So help him if this boy was eight-years old…

"Ni…nine." Came the halting reply.

Well, it wasn't eight. That was something, Danny supposed. "Ok, Choji, can you tell me what you were doing on that bridge?"

Choji gave no reply.

"Choji? Choji?" Danny leaned forward but resisted the urge to shake the boy. Choji was unconscious. Danny sat back. "Oh… butternuts."

Danny directed his worried gaze at Mr. Lancer. "I think he has a concussion. I couldn't keep him awake. I don't think there's much else I can do until help comes. If only I had some ice, that might help."

Mr. Lancer was staring oddly at Danny's hands, resting under Choji's head. "Oh, I don't think you need to worry about that."

Danny frowned, not understanding Mr. Lancer's words. He looked back down at Choji in worry.

Mr. Lancer drifted forward, then with a sigh the man sat down cross-legged. Since he was a ghost, he hovered over the grass rather than sitting on it.

"Hm… haven't been able to sit like this for years." The man observed.

Danny's head snapped back to the man and his expression was stricken. "I'm sorry, I got caught up in this…and you…"

Mr. Lancer waved him off. "Don't apologize for being a hero, Daniel. It's who you are."

Danny bit his lip and looked down. He disagreed.

"So, when did you learn Japanese?" Mr. Lancer asked conversationally. "Or was your slacker attitude all just an act as part of your secret identity?"

Danny let out a wry chuckle. "No… not an act, I'm afraid. Though ghosts _did_ have an annoying tendency to attack during school hours."

"Aha! All the washroom trips." Mr. Lancer looked like he'd been enlightened.

"The Japanese is a spell gifted to me by… a friend." Danny said slowly.

"And all the medical knowledge?" Mr. Lancer raised an eyebrow.

Danny cocked his head with a smile and shrugged.

It was still raining hard, Danny wasn't cold but Choji was starting to shiver. Danny wished he had something to help keep the boy warm.

There was a flash of lightning and Danny's eyes widened as a deadly streak cut into the water not too far away from where he was sitting.

" _Deep Fried Trouble,_ it's a good thing you got both of you out of there." Lancer exclaimed.

"Yeah…" Danny agreed. Then, he quirked an eyebrow at Mr. Lancer as he noticed the teacher's strange epithet. Mr. Lancer had a strange penchant for swearing using book names, but still… "I think you need to work on your book titles."

"I'll have you know, Deep Fried Trouble is an excellent read." Lancer huffed.

"And didn't you say something about molasses earlier?"

"I was on a prune juice diet just before I died. I think I'm owed a little food envy." Mr. Lancer pouted.

Danny immediately sobered. "I… I need to tell you, Mr. Lancer. I am so… so sorry for what happened."

"What happened at the Nasty Burger was a terrible thing. But it wasn't your fault, Daniel." Mr. Lancer said. "I do certainly hope that someone brings a lawsuit against that fast food company though… Flammable sauce is a horrific oversight."

"No," Danny cringed. "I mean… I cheated on that test. I shouldn't have. If I hadn't, then you would never have been at the Nasty Burger…"

"Who's to say I wouldn't have been there for another reason? I do remember that my incentive to diet had been broken that day and I was fully intending to buy take-out. It's why I suggested meeting your parents at the diner… Regardless, that place was going to explode whether or not you cheated on that test. Even still, it's incredible that the casualties were so few… Was there no one _inside_ the restaurant at that time? Anyway, we do agree on one thing however: you should not have cheated on the CATs."

"And in the end it was a such a stupid thing to worry about." Danny said and seeing Mr. Lancer's offended look, Danny elaborated. "I know. I know. I remember everything you said that day about careers and futures. But look, compared to what the cost ended up being…" Danny trailed off, then shook his head. "Besides… I doubt any CAT would have predicted _this_ future for me."

"What do you mean? You are… working? Here?" Lancer frowned.

Danny nodded. "I'm an odd case so they don't have a specific name for my job yet… but I guess I'm sort of like an assistant nurse."

"That's quite impressive for someone your age." Lancer said approvingly. "I knew you had potential."

Danny let out a scoff. "Yeah. Right. C'mon. I was doomed from the start. Well, kinda… yeah… that's more or less when it started."

"Started? You mean when you…"

"Ghost powers." Danny nodded. "Happened right before I got banned from the chem lab."

"You broke 34 beakers!" Lancer recalled.

Danny smirked. "To be fair, I was a little busy trying not to drop through the floor… or… how did you put it 'Dropping Trow'." Danny sent Lancer a wry look.

" _Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants_! I thought you were trying out a new fashion sense! All that time you were trying to control your powers?"

Danny shrugged.

"If we are being plain… that is one reason I came to see you." Lancer said. He looked uneasy as he met Danny's eyes. "I'm afraid that I've failed you as a teacher…"

"No. Don't let that worry you." Danny said honestly. "We did actively try to hide it from everyone anyway."

"'We'?"

"Me, Sam, Tucker... Valerie, too, in a way… Oh… and I guess Jazz too, since she knew about me all along."

"Wait… Ms. Grey? I remember she'd leave class almost as often as you, but…"

"You remember the Red Hunter?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

Lancer looked shocked.

"To be honest, I actually didn't expect to see you… or at least to see you earlier. It's been months…" Danny looked at Lancer.

"You are my second stop." Lancer responded. "In fact I have family in Amity Park that I wanted to see first. You should stop, by the way…"

"Huh?" Danny frowned, "Stop what?"

"He's getting cold." Lancer said, looking down at Choji. Danny followed Lancer's gaze, but didn't see what the man was talking about.

Then, his head came up as he heard voices in the distance.

"They're coming…" Danny said to himself, then, looking back at Lancer, he asked quickly: "Wait, before you go—you saw Amity Park! How is it there? How is everyone?"

Mr. Lancer's brows pulled down into a frown. "I won't lie, Danny—"

Just then a puff of smoke appeared right over Mr. Lancer and a female ninja came somersaulting out of the thin air. In the brief moment that Danny was distracted by the ninja's entrance, Lancer had disappeared.

"They're here!" The ninja yelled over her shoulder then turned to look back at Danny. "Hey are you—"

Their eyes locked and Danny gasped as he felt himself caught in a blood-red gaze and then _pulled_ … He squeezed his eyes shut but the eyes seemed to follow him. They pierced his mind and dug deep… deeper…

A vision of white hair and glowing green eyes came to Danny and he abruptly jerked back, away and physically yanked his body back. This knocked Choji's head off his lap, but it also broke whatever spell the ninja had placed on him.

"Easy." The woman said, and she seemed to either had not noticed the bizarre exchange or was, for whatever reason, ignoring it. She knelt next to Choji. Feeling his face, she conjured a blanket out of the air and wrapped the boy in it, simultaneously lifting him effortlessly into her arms.

"You are the one who pulled him out of the water?" The woman asked Danny and he nodded, avoiding looking into her eyes.

"I am Yuhi Kurenai. Jonin." The woman introduced herself.

 _Kurenai_ … Danny remembered that name. So much for trying to avoid her.

"Fenton Danny." He responded.

"I know." Kurenai said blithely. She then observed his sodden form. Finally, the rain had started to abate, but Danny was still soaked to the bone. "You are not cold?"

Danny shook his head. But then, remembering that he was practically in his underwear, he felt heat rise in his cheeks. "But… um…"

"Kurenai!" Someone called. There was another puff of smoke and then a tall male ninja appeared. "Kurenai, you found the kid—both of them!" He added the last part as he saw Danny.

"Yes, Asuma." Kurenai greeted.

"So you're the idiot who dove into the water after the kid?" Asuma said, raising an eyebrow at Danny.

"Likely saved the boy's life too—you saw the lightning." Kurenai pointed out.

"No shit." Asuma sounded impressed he shot an appraising look at Danny. "That's a good job, boy! You should consider joining the Academy." Then he looked at the boy in Kurenai's arms. "Oh hey, that's Akimichi Choza's boy, isn't it?"

"Looks like it."

"Man," Asuma chuckled. "Kid's going to get a right scolding when his old man hears about this."

"Never mind that, he's freezing cold. I'm taking him back to the hospital. Why don't you get our hero some pants and then bring him along." Kurenai jerked a chin in Danny's direction then in a puff of smoke she was gone.

Asuma looked at Danny and scratched his beard. "Huh, she's right. What happened to your pants, kid?"

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

At the hospital, Danny was beset by people: concerned co-workers, gossiping co-workers who played concerned, and complete strangers, all of whom wanted him to repeat his story over and over.

Feeling a headache coming on, Danny was wishing fondly for the power of invisibility when he was fortunately rescued by Shizune. She gave him a brief check up and then sent him to a private room to rest.

"You've got some scrapes and bruises but other than that you seem to be fine. Don't be surprised if you come down with a bad flu though—I'm just surprised you aren't hypothermic like the kid." Shizune said as she ordered him to stay in the room.

"I can just go back to my place…" Danny suggested.

"No. I want to be able to keep an eye on you just in case something else develops. And look at you: you're exhausted. I'm not sending you home in this condition."

Danny whined, but relented. She was right: he was exhausted.

"I'm sorry, you'll probably have to sleep in a gown. Your shirt is soaked." Shizune said and ignored the face Danny made at the open-backed gown lying on the bed. "I'm still surprised you've no symptoms of hypothermia. The kid's body temperature was quite low when he came in… although, all in all that was probably a good thing."

"Why's that?" Danny asked.

"The trauma to his skull caused a minor brain contusion. The cold kept the swelling down and we healed it in time to prevent any major damage. The alternative could have lead to more lasting brain damage."

Danny swallowed. He hadn't realized it had been so dire. "I see."

Pausing at the door, Shizune turned to look back.

"Oh and Danny,"

"Yeah?"

"That was a good job resuscitating that boy tonight. Well done."

"You could tell?" Danny was surprised. Then, shaking his head, he smiled. "Thanks." Then, he paused before sending her a cheeky grin. "No mention about the diving in after him and pulling him to shore part?"

"Well, now that you mentioned it, Diving in after the boy was entirely foolhardy and reckless. You could have easy both died. You're lucky it worked out the way it did."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Bah. You guys are supposed to be ninja aren't you? Where's your appreciation for dramatic flair?"

"Dramatic flair lands you in a hospital bed—that's what I appreciate." Shizune shot back. Then she shook her head and smiled. "Get some sleep Danny. You've earned it. We'll talk tomorrow."

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

The next day Danny was up and about. Naruto and Sasuke dropped by to see him in the morning and had chosen to loiter around for a while. Soon after, Danny was visited by Kurenai.

"These are yours, I assume." Danny was making his bed when Kurenai entered and unceremoniously dropped a large bag onto the bed. Looking inside, Danny recognized his coat, boots and the bag of library books.

"Oh! Yes! Thank you." He said and gathered the bag up.

"I'm afraid we were unable to recover your pants." The woman sent Danny's hospital scrubs a wry smirk and Danny blushed, fidgeting in his outfit. At least he wasn't still in that open-backed hospital gown.

"I see you've made a full recovery." Kurenai changed the topic.

"Oh, um, yeah. Choji too."

"Yes, that boy likely owes you a life debt now." Kurenai said.

Danny wondered if the woman was messing with him. "What? No…"

"Indeed. Saving a life is no small matter and the Akimichi's are nothing if not a proud ninja family. I wouldn't be surprised if you get a visit from them later today where they tell you the very same thing."

"I…see…" Danny said with a frown as he awkwardly twisted the handles of the bag in his hands. "Um… not… to be… rude, but why _are_ you here to see me? I… doubt you came all this way just to return this bag."

"You are astute." Kurenai nodded. "To speak frankly, I came to warn you that I shall be keeping an eye on you from now on."

"Excuse me?" Danny blinked.

"You are fortunate in that you have made so many allies in the short time you've been here. In particular, if it hadn't been for Kakashi, I would have gone straight to the council and recommended your immediate expulsion from the village."

"I… _what?_ " Danny choked.

"You are… not what you seem." Kurenai said and she narrowed her eyes on Danny. Danny felt chills looking at her and remembered to avert his eyes. "I can tell you are not a ninja. And on first glance you appear to have no chakra. But what I saw in you yesterday was nevertheless powerful. And if you should know anything about ninja… we love keeping our secrets, but we do not like having secrets _kept_ from us. Look, even now, you purposefully hide your gaze from mine."

Danny's tongue ran over his teeth but he kept his mouth shut, not knowing what to say.

"Still…"Kurenai paused. "Your actions yesterday were those of a noble heart. And such selflessness deserves its own reward. This is why I've come today to warn you."

Danny opened his mouth and was about to respond when Naruto hopped into the room.

"And here's more patient rooms!" The blond said with excitement gesturing to someone outside the room. "And Danny! Danny's my other good friend—a much better friend than sour-faced Sasuke. Come in! I want you to meet him."

Stepping timidly into the room came a small, pale girl who looked up at Naruto with a shy smile before she looked into the room. Danny was captivated by the girl's stunning, white eyes. He wondered if she was blind, then dismissed the thought as the girl's eyes rested on Kurenai and the girl visibly reacted.

"Ah! Kurenai!" The girl hopped and bowed.

"Hinata,"

Danny's eyebrows rose. Kurenai, who had spoke to Danny with such curt aggressiveness, now hummed to this girl in a kind, gentle tone.

"Hinata, why don't you and your friend go wait in the reception area? I'm almost done here. I'll join you soon."

The tiny girl gave a bow and obediently left.

"Aww…" Naruto pouted. "But I was giving her a tour."

"Go on Naruto." Danny encouraged. "You know you shouldn't be wandering around back here by yourself anyway. Much less giving tours."

Naruto grumbled, but followed after Hinata.

Danny watched Naruto's receding back, noting, as he always did, the long tails of the fox which curled over Naruto's shoulder. Then, in peripheral vision he noticed Kurenai also staring. His eyes snapped between Kurenai and Naruto to confirm that he wasn't just imagining it.

"You…! You can see the fox too, can't you!" Danny exclaimed, his excitement at finally finding someone else who could _see_ the not-quite-a-ghost creature overriding his wariness. This was a mystery that had been grating at him for _ages_ … to finally find someone like him…!

Kurenai's expression of surprise and alarm told Danny all he needed to know.

"So that means you know what it is then, don't you? Can you tell me?"

Kurenai's lips pulled into a tight line. "You must truly have no idea… to have the gall to ask me a question like that so candidly, there's no way you could be faking that ignorance…"

Danny frowned.

"Let me ask you one question first: when I looked at you yesterday I saw _you_ , but I also saw another version of you—one with snow white hair and glowing green eyes. Can you tell me what it was that I saw?"

Danny paused then the corner of his lip twisted into a lopsided smile. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Kurenai smirked. "Perhaps one day you'll try me, and on that day perhaps we can begin a sharing of information."

Danny tsked, knowing he'd walked straight into that trap.

"Anyway, you have received my warning and that is all I have to say on the matter. _Today_." Kurenai told Danny solemnly and he fought a shiver that threatened to travel down his spine. "Good day to you." Kurenai finished briskly and she left the room.

Later on that day, Danny did indeed receive a call from Choji and his parents.

"We of the Akimichi Clan are proud ninja." Choji's father said, reflecting almost word for word what Kurenai had said. "We take life debts seriously."

Danny resisted a sigh. Maybe he could ask Shizune about manufacturing a way for Choji to 'save' his life.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

"This place is an absolute pigsty! How can you stand living in this mess, Naruto?" Danny asked as he stood in the centre of the blond's room. He had asked this question before. For months he'd been actively prodding the blond boy to clean up his apartment. Naruto had been just as active in ignoring Danny's prodding. Finally, the teen had had enough and had told Naruto that they were going to take Danny's entire free day and scrub the boy's apartment from top to bottom. Naruto hadn't been pleased, but had relented after being subjected to Danny's sternest frown—an expression the teen had channelled, unexpectedly, not from his mother but from _Vlad_.

Danny didn't spend time thinking about the implications of _that_.

There was a large bag intended for trash hanging from Danny's fingers. He had a feeling they'd be needing at least five more. "I don't even know where to start!"

"What's a 'pigsty'?" Naruto asked as he hopped on a stool and reached into a high cupboard to pull out a packet of dry ramen.

"No! No eating!" Danny stalked over, cut through the boy's attempts to hide the food behind his back, and plucked the packet out of the boy's hand before easily tossing it back into the cupboard. A quick glance into said cupboard revealed too much dust and too many cobwebs. "You ate barely two hours ago. We're here to clean your place, remember?"

Naruto pouted. "We don't _have_ to clean it! I hardly spend any time in here anyway and it's not like I have cockroaches or anything."

" _Cockroaches?_ " Danny made a disgusted face. "You _better_ not have cockroaches."

After many minutes of simply staring about the room dumbly while Naruto hummed and picked his teeth in boredom, Danny came to the conclusion that there was no correct way to do this. They'd just have to dive in.

"Fine. Naruto, strip the bed and gather all your dirty clothes. I'm going to empty the cupboards."

"We can't do laundry, it's raining." Naruto pointed out cheekily.

'Raining' was still the largest understatement Danny had heard since coming to Konoha. The teen sent the window a displeased expression. Rain pelted the glass pain in a violent cacophony. Leaves and branches of trees shook with such force that it was audible even inside the room. It was still morning but the storm clouds blotted out the sun and cast a dark, foggy gloom over the buildings and narrow streets of Konoha.

Every time Danny looked outside at the rain he was struck with a sense of awe, and some unease. In Amity Park, bad weather had been sometimes inconvenient, or, in the event of snow days, sometimes fun. But Konoha was completely different. Here the weather was loud and close and powerful. It made him feel small, insignificant, and that was an uncomfortable feeling.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Danny looked back down at Naruto.

"Doesn't matter." The teen said. "We still need to separate out your dirty clothes from the clean ones."

"How do I know if it's dirty?" Naruto whined, still sulking.

Danny, blinking at the odd question, did some quick thinking. "Anything you've worn twice put it aside for laundry."

"Aw…" Naruto pouted. "But that's practically everything."

Danny sighed. "We… we'll figure it out. Just start sorting."

"Where should I put it all?"

"You don't have a—nevermind. Use this for now." Danny shoved the bag in his hands at Naruto. Once he saw the boy was progressing fine, he turned to the cupboards.

Crouching and poking his head inside a larger one, the tickle in the back of his nose hit him so suddenly that he didn't have time to prepare. The explosive sneeze caused a cloud of dust and who-knew-what-else to billow up into his face and out of the cupboard.

"Augh!" Grimacing in disgust and squinting his eyes, Danny retreated out of the cupboard and grabbed for a washcloth sitting on the counter.

"No! Not that one!" Naruto yelped, quickly replacing the one in his hand with a second one.

Now wary, Danny squinted at this new cloth in his hand then at Naruto. "Clean?"

"Y-yeah…"

Deciding he'd rather risk the cloth than take a long walk to the washroom, Danny perfunctorily wiped the dust away from his eyes, nose and mouth.

Bending back down, he was careful not to inhale too quickly as he went back to inspecting state of the cupboards.

"For once I'm glad all you eat is ramen." Danny told Naruto, who blinked up at him. "It's much easier to clean up."

"You mean we'll be done soon?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Danny laughed painfully. "Ha. Ha ha. Oh no… We'll be lucky if we get out of this room before the sun sets."

Everything had to be wiped down with a wet washcloth and Danny, as he worked, grew increasingly irritated with his hair, which kept flopping into his eyes. It had grown shaggy and long—longer than he'd ever had it back home—and he silently wished for the simple, old, familiar salon that had been a few houses down from FentonWorks. Here in Konoha he knew no one and with his job he really didn't have time to go scoping out barbershops.

 _Home_. He paused, sitting back on his heels as the word practically struck him across the face. He still thought of Amity Park as home…

A long handkerchief dangling before his eyes brought him back to the present.

Naruto stood a little above the crouching Danny and the teen looked up at the boy questioningly.

"For your hair." Naruto shrugged. "You keep huffing and pushing it back, so here."

"Thanks." He took the material with a small smile.

Many hours later, Danny flopped backward onto Naruto's bed. "That's it." He groaned, dropping his arm to cover his eyes. "Enough. If I clean another cupboard or floorboard or windowsill or whatever my arms are going to drop off. I don't even have the energy to walk back to my own room. D'you mind if I just crash here?"

"Not at all!" Naruto sounded pleased.

"Urgh…" Danny turned his head to glance over the edge of the bedframe. "It was a traumatizing experience, but right now I am _so_ glad we cleaned out the underneath of your bed."

Naruto dropped down on the bed and sat on his knees, grinning slyly down at Danny. "You're just upset 'cause everyone on the floor heard you scream when we found that lizard."

"It was the size of my _face!_ " Danny defended. "And it just ran right at me!"

Naruto laughed and had just opened his mouth to respond when the window suddenly shattered inward.

Danny and Naruto both cried out and ducked to avoid the flying shards of glass.

Two figures leapt feet first into the room.

Danny was the first to regroup and he quickly pulled himself to his feet. Before him were two people: one male, one female, both dressed in black and wearing masks over the lower halves of their faces. For a moment they just stood and stared at one another. They looked just as surprised to him as he was to see them.

"There's _two_ of them!" The man hissed.

"Stick to the plan. We only need the kid. Take the other one out!" The woman instructed.

Danny was instantly on his guard. Reaching out, he grabbed the still dumbfounded Naruto by the arm and tugged the boy behind him.

"Hey, just who are you guys any—Whoa!" Danny cut off and jumped to the side as the man suddenly launched forward. The teen yanked Naruto with him as he dodged.

Danny gasped as a fist was thrust through the space where his head had been. The man recovered fast and Danny managed to backpedal as a foot lashed out toward his stomach. Danny continued to move backward as the man pressed forward. He weaved and twisted to avoid the attacks that came whip-fast and with enough force to break bones.

This man was _fast_. He made the genin from the alley seem like school-yard bullies. Danny couldn't keep up, especially not while dragging Naruto with him.

"Let me go, let me go!" The boy fought Danny's hold. "I can help!"

"No!" But Danny was soon left with no choice as a fist caught him across the jaw. Danny fell, Naruto's arm slipping from his grip as he spilled across the ground. He sat up almost immediately, touching the injury. He grimaced at the taste of blood in his mouth, but was relieved to find that his jaw was merely bruised, not broken.

As Danny recovered his wits, Naruto wasted no time in throwing himself at the man with a loud battle cry. The fight was over almost as soon as it began. The man flipped the boy, planted a knee in his back and restrained his hands all in a matter of seconds.

"No! Naruto!" He reached out, scrambling to lift himself off his hands and knees as he tried to help the boy.

Before he was even back up on his feet, a finely placed heel to the ribs sent him right back to the ground where he rolled over, gasping and staring right up into the masked face of the female robber.

He'd forgotten about her.

As he met her eyes, he felt a spark of familiarity. He remembered that slanted, calculating stare.

"Hey! You're that dancer—!" He gasped, lifting himself up on one knee.

The woman's eyes narrowed, then an eyebrow arched in what seemed to be an amused expression. "Hello again, pretty-eyes."

"What are you doing here? Why are you after Naruto—Hey!" He turned and scrambled to his feet. He saw the man pressing a cloth over a struggling Naruto's mouth and nose. The boy's eyes were drooping and he was clearly weakening.

"Get away from him!"

"Oh, we don't have time for this."

Danny felt more than saw the blow aimed at the back of his head. He twisted away, but fate was not on his side as his foot caught on a pail of soapy water he'd been using to clean Naruto's apartment.

The pail upended. Danny slipped in the water. His head struck something on the way down and then all was dark.

* * *

 **:o:**

 **END PART VI**

 **To be concluded in PART VII – SAM**

 **:o:**


	7. PART VII - SAM

Part VII! Enjoy!

This time my comments are at end of the chapter, so I'll see you there!

* * *

 **:o:**

 **Ectoplasm and Chakra**

 _When Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius combined to create the catastrophe that would plague Amity Park for ten years, everyone assumed Danny Fenton died. But the truth was far different. Stranded in a strange land, a world-weary Danny meets a tiny blond boy with a nine-tailed fox on his shoulder and trouble on his heels. It is an odd turnabout to be simply_ ordinary _in a village of the extraordinary… TUE timeline; Naruto prequel._

A Danny Phantom & Naruto Crossover Fanfiction

By: _Sholay_

 **:o:**

* * *

 **:o:**

 **PART VII – SAM**

 **:o:**

* * *

A sharp, stinging slap to his face brought Danny back to painful awareness.

"Ow. Ow-ow… _ow…_ " He groaned as he reacted first to the smack, then to his various other aches. His side hurt, but that was nothing compared to the pounding in his head. Gingerly, he ghosted the backs of his fingers against his jaw and winced. He checked his other injuries: fingers brushing his temple came away with dried blood.

"That's not good." He murmured. Then, the events that had led up to his injuries suddenly slammed into his memory and he bolted upright.

He swayed as dizziness and nausea threatened to send him back to the ground. But Danny grit his teeth and determinedly kept himself on his feet. He pushed away all else for a much more pressing concern. "Naruto!" He searched the room with his eyes, unable to find the blond child.

All the hard work Danny and Naruto had put into cleaning the room had been destroyed in a matter of minutes. The place was a mess: window broken, rain pattering against the floor, sheets from the bed scattered across the ground and soaking up soapy water from pail Danny had upended. His clothes and hair were wet. The doorframe was dented from the force of a supernaturally-powered fist ploughing into it. There was a crack in Naruto's wooden bedframe.

It was dark outside. But hadn't it been dark when he'd been knocked out? Danny's lungs felt too small. A chilling fear gripped him as he realized he had no idea how long he'd been unconscious. How long ago had Naruto been taken? Those people— _'Barely people! Only monsters would kidnap a kid!_ '—had been vicious in their attack.

And they'd clearly come for Naruto. What did they want with him? Why would they kidnap him? Naruto… Anything could have happened to him by now. Naruto had been taken from him.

Danny's breath was speeding up.

He had no idea where they'd taken Naruto.

He could be anywhere by now.

 _Someone had taken Naruto from him_ —!

A sharp tug on his wrist made his eyes swing downward wildly and his gaze caught on a familiar mop of black hair.

"Sasuke?" Danny asked, breathless.

The black-haired boy pressed his palms together, fingers under his nose and looked at Danny with clear agitation in his dark eyes. He pointed to the ruined window, where rain and wind from the outside leaked into the room, and gestured urgently.

"Naruto?" Danny questioned and Sasuke nodded, pointing again. "You know where he is?"

Sasuke gave a noncommittal headshake, pointed to his eyes and then to the window, then back again.

Danny bit his tongue on the urge to tell Sasuke to _spit it out_. "You can see—Can track him? Even… even with the _rain?_ " Danny voice hitched.

Sasuke nodded, Danny's heart leapt straight into his throat.

"Then why are you _here?_ Why didn't you get help?"

' _You_ know _why.'_ Sasuke's withering stare seemed to tell him.

Danny carded his fingers through his hair and winced as he inadvertently scraped a nail over the bump on his head. "Dammit, Sasuke, this isn't time for—" Abruptly, he halted himself from continuing. Yelling at the boy for his silence was not going to help anyone.

"We need to get help." Danny said anxiously. "Maybe Shizune's still at the hospital? Or if we go to that ramen joint, maybe we'll find Kakashi?"

Sasuke shook his head sharply. The boy rapped two fingers against his palm, somehow conveying in that gesture that they had to hurry and there was no time.

"I know but—!"

Sasuke simply grabbed a fistful of Danny's damp shirt and pulled the teen toward the window.

"It's raining." Danny said worriedly as he stuck his head out. Though not a flood-inducing downpour, the rain was still coming down in heavy ropes. In moments, his hair was plastered to his face and he drew back inside to mop his bangs out of his eyes. "How're we going to—?"

Sasuke brushed by him. With a lithe movement, the boy hopped, tucking himself into a tiny ball as he perched on the windowsill.

Danny was instantly alarmed as he saw pitch eyes calculating the distance between the window and the nearest rooftop. Danny saw the boy's feet gain the faint blue glow of chakra.

"No! Wait—!" The teen cried, reaching out too late.

Like a cat, Sasuke sprang into the air, into the rain. Gasping, Danny moved to the windowsill and stared out into the night.

Wet rooftops were illuminated by the moon and he saw Sasuke had landed on a nearby building. Not even slipping on the uneven shingles, the boy was instantly running.

"No! Sasuke!" Realizing the boy was almost out of sight, Danny yelped and, before he could think better of it, he'd planted a foot on the sill, pushed off, and was flying through the air.

Inconceivably, he made the jump. He _shouldn't_ have made the jump. Sasuke had chakra and fancy ninja skills to help him do such things, but Danny was just ordinary, he didn't have…

"Shut _up. No time_ for that _._ " He hissed to himself, raising a hand to try and shield his eyes from the rain and keep his hair off his face. He ran haphazardly across the rooftop. The slanted, curved shingles were slick with rain and he kept slipping. Cursing the water—' _Why did all the crazy stupid stuff have to happen during freakin' monsoon season?!'—_ he caught his balance with one hand and used it to springboard himself forward.

Barely three more steps and his foot slipped again. His hand cut open on clay tiles as he fought not to tumble off the roof. The act of swallowing back pain was like putting on an old, familiar glove and he kept running.

Sasuke seemed to have no apparent problem running along the rooftops. He was already at the other end of the building and was preparing to leap.

" _Wait!_ Sasuke!" Danny cried to no avail.

He couldn't let Sasuke out of his sight. Danny scrambled, racing more on all four limbs than just two, to catch up. Sasuke was getting further away and the rain was becoming a hindrance to his vision.

Danny saw the edge of the roof coming up and a lump formed in his throat.

Pushing his feet to move faster, he took his hands off the shingles and sped up.

 _Crazy!_ He was _crazy_!

He sprinted toward the edge.

The next rooftop was far. But it was lower and it was also flat concrete.

He could make it. He could—!

Danny, leapt. The wind stole his breath as he arced through the air, pin wheeling his arms, he freefell. The roof rushed up to meet him and he could make it—!

The ball of his left foot came down on the edge of the concrete.

There was a split second of relief that he'd landed the jump.

Then the concrete crumbled and he plunged.

Instinct took over. He clawed forward in the air, a startled outcry torn from him.

And landed with a _"Whump!"_ as his upper torso landed on the rooftop, fingers digging at the gritty surface of the concrete, while his legs dangled freely in mid air.

He heard a scream below him and spared a glance downward. Some three or four stories below him there was a familiar girl with striking pink hair looking up at him, her green eyes wide with fear.

Danny spared Sakura no more attention as he grunted and heaved himself upward. There was no time! If he didn't get up, Sasuke would be out of sight—and _someone had taken Naruto!_

He fought with the roof, clawing and forcing himself further onto the safe, flat surface. His legs strained, doing what they could to lever his body up.

He heaved out a strained breath of air when he finally got himself fully onto the concrete. Pushing straight to his feet, his right leg nearly buckled under him when he stepped forward.

He hissed and looked down. There was blood and pain, but no sprains or broken bones. He must have struck his knee against the edge as he fell. He panted: already out of breath and limping before the fight had even begun.

Squinting back up, he could barely even see Sasuke through the rain and the darkness. All he could make out was the blue glow of Chakra. Sasuke was heading toward the eastern exit of Konoha.

Had the people who kidnapped Naruto taken him out of the village?

Danny's teeth ground down into a snarl and his fingers curled into white-knuckled fists. He would _not_ let another person he cared about be taken from him. He cursed his weak body—no powers, no stamina, _weak, weak, weak!_

Except that he didn't have a choice. Danny shook his head harshly: tossing his hair back and rattling his own sense of vertigo. He couldn't _afford_ to be weak. Naruto was gone and Danny would _damn well suck it up and get his brother back!_

His mind tunnelled on his objective and he used the pain of his knee to spur his sprint onward.

The roof flew by under his feet. The next jump Danny made was a shorter leap onto a triangular rooftop. He ran recklessly over the slippery tiles.

The next jump, he wasn't even thinking. He threw himself bodily through the air and landed in a roll. In seconds he was up and running again.

His breath came in sharp pants. He had only the barest idea of where he was—he'd never ventured this far East before. The streets seemed darker, the houses seedier. They passed by in a blur as he ran…jumped… landed… ran… jumped again…

Until, finally, he saw Sasuke clamber down a tree. There was a graveyard on this side of Konoha and the boy ran straight through.

Danny leapt into the tree and descended dangerously fast. The last ten feet he simply pushed off the tree and landed in a roll that covered his limbs in muddy water and jarred his ankles. He ran forward into the graveyard.

The moment he crossed into the cemetery he _felt_ it.

The very air felt electrified and instantly every hair on his neck and arms stood on end. The atmosphere grew thick and it was like someone had put a cup over his ears the world _inhaled_.

Despite himself, he skidded to a halt. Arms flying akimbo to keep his balance as his feet slid on muddy soil.

Danny's eyes were wide with disbelief as he took in the sight around him.

Running up to the cemetery, the place had looked like any other he'd seen: morose, dark and empty. But the graveyard in Amity Park had remained dark, morose and _empty_ even when he'd stepped foot inside to _bury…_

To _bury…_

Danny's mind snapped like a rubber band away from the thoughts of his family and came back to the present and _still_ he couldn't wrap his mind around what he was seeing.

Because graveyards were supposed to be empty.

Not filled with the glowing ghosts of the dead.

So many ghosts, that the entire cemetery was lit like a macabre festival of ghosts of ninjas who had passed away.

Ghosts who still bore signs of the injuries that had killed them.

The spectre nearest to him, a man in his thirties, looked up. He had a gaping hole in his shoulder. The ghost's eyes widened.

" _You… you can see us?"_ The man gasped.

Danny instantly felt a wash of dread as a few more ghosts turned to regard him. One was missing an arm. The other had a horrific injury disfiguring the lower half of his face.

" _Can you see?_ " A woman, body severed at the waist, looked up at him with beseeching eyes.

The first ghost was gliding forward and just as he was about to touch Danny, the teen snapped out of his stupor and lanced forward, determined to sprint through the graveyard as fast as humanly possible.

" _Wait… wait!"_ The calls followed him but Danny did not heed them.

He ran down the center of the cemetery. He kept his eyes straight ahead. He did not dare to look at the ghosts even as he felt them turn to regard him.

One came too close and brushed his arm.

" _I touched him!"_ Came the startled outcry and those words were a ripple that physically travelled through the masses. As one, they surged forward.

Danny was two steps away from the exit when a hand clamped down on his arm and yanked him back.

"NO!" Danny shouted as he was pulled away from the exit. "Let me go! I need—" He looked back and shrank in horror as he was met with a man with no face.

" _Help us._ " A voice, hollow and faraway sounding, begged with desperation.

"I'm sorry!" Danny struggled, eyes wide. "I can't—I need to get out! I need to help—"

The grip around his arm grew bruising. " _You will—!"_

The ghost was suddenly cut off as it was violently yanked away from Danny and thrown aside.

Danny tumbled to the ground and looked up in shock at the broad back of a ghost that suddenly stood protectively over him. It was a man with spiky hair and a large, ornate cloak. The cloak had a series of symbols on it, three of which Danny recognized as meaning 'Fourth', the other two he didn't know but felt like he had seen before.

The man turned his head and pierced Danny with shrewd eyes.

"Go! You're trying to get to Naruto right? GO!"

Still dazed, Danny hesitated. Then he felt someone try to grab his hand and recoiled, eyes darting up to see a woman with long hair and pale eyes staring down at him. She was a ghost: made clear by the gaping hole in her chest, but unlike the others she had kind eyes. She smiled at him.

"Come on!" The ghostly woman encouraged as reached out to him again. This time Danny let her grasp his hand and she tugged him to his feet. "I'll get you to the exit!"

Danny was pulled along as the man stayed behind, acting as a shield between Danny and the other ghosts. When they reached the edge of the cemetery, the woman abruptly spun and shoved Danny toward the gates.

"Save our son!" The woman called just as Danny crossed over and exited the graveyard.

Abruptly, everything was dark again. The ghosts were gone. It was raining. Everything was dark. No voices. No sound but that of water hitting earth in stuttered applause.

Danny grappled with the idea that he might have just met Naruto's parents. Then his mind sharpened on _Naruto_ and he turned, plunging headfirst into the forest behind the cemetery.

Danny had completely lost sight of Sasuke at this point. But somehow, he could still see the trace blue of Sasuke's chakra, like markers along the path the boy had taken. The boy had leapt through the trees.

Danny raced pell-mell through the forest, leaves and branches slapping him as he impatiently shoved aside the underbrush. He realized he was dangerously close to breaking his promise not to leave Konoha but didn't have time to put much worry into that thought. Sasuke's blue chakra had stopped. Slowing, Danny came to a halt under the tree in which Sasuke was crouching stealthily.

He couldn't see anything ahead of himself and so he looked up at Sasuke high in the branches. The boy stared down at him with an inscrutable expression. Then, slowly, the boy put a finger to his lips before pointing ahead.

Danny frowned. Moving quietly, he advanced toward the thick foliage in front of himself.

The rain masked both the sound of his footfalls and him pushing aside the branches of leafy bushes. He was grateful for this when he saw what was before him.

Trees and undergrowth gave way to a small clearing. At the far end was an old shrine set into a short rock cliff. The flute player and the dancer stood with three ninja—Konoha ninja, from their headbands—in the center of the clearing. Between them and the shrine was a raised stone dais.

Lying unconscious on the dais was Naruto.

Danny was close enough that he could hear the five people speaking even over the rain.

"So this is it, yeah?" One of the Konoha ninja asked with excitement. He had shaggy brown hair. "We gonna do this now?"

"And we're going to get what we were promised, right?" Another Konoha ninja with grey eyes added.

Just then, Danny recognized the three Konoha ninja. These were the genin who had harassed Naruto in that alleyway so long ago. Danny still didn't know their names, but remembered their appearances: Brown Hair, Red Hair and Grey Eyes.

"Well, that all depends," The female dancer intoned in a melodious voice. "Do you have what we agreed upon?"

"Tch, of course, Youmu." Grey Eyes said, and from inside his coat he drew out a scroll. Neither the dancer nor Grey Eyes seemed concerned about the scroll getting wet.

"That stupid one-eyed old man practically threw it at us. Guess even the higher-ups hate this kid." Brown Hair sneered.

Danny's eyes narrowed.

"Very good…" The dancer, Youmu, smiled and the expression was cold. Condescending. She beckoned to Grey Eyes with long, painted nails and he stepped closer and handed her the scroll. He was grinning, apparently oblivious to, or uncaring of, the dangerous glint in her eyes.

"So? We'll get it now, right? We're going to get the kid's power?" Brown Hair wanted to know.

"Oh…" Youmu breathed. "You shall get exactly what you are owed."

Quietly, then growing louder, the melancholic tones of a flute separated out from the pattering of rain. Everyone in the clearing turned to look at the man playing the flute.

The tune the man was playing was eerie. It pulled at Danny in an odd way. The sounds the flute made were unearthly. A ghostly wail.

Youmu was speaking again. "You see, my companion, Hibiki, doesn't like to talk much but he does love to play. And what lovely ways he does play…"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Brown Hair asked irritably.

"Hibiki, you see was named after a very famous ninja. One who was rumoured to have used that very flute Hibiki plays now… It's a slow technique but, you'll find, a very effective one. Ah, you're feeling it now, aren't you?"

Hibiki's tune had stopped and he was holding a long note.

Danny felt a discomforting tugging at his very being from that note. Unconsciously, his neck arched, head tilting to better expose his ear to the sound. He had a strong, inexplicable urge to hum the same pitch. He supressed that urge.

Brown Hair had grown stiff. Suddenly, he choked and grasped at his chest with a clawed hand. His movements were bizarrely slow, as though he were underwater. "What the fuck is happening to me?!"

"You see, everything has a frequency. Even your chakra. Hibiki has just found yours. You're probably finding it difficult to move…"

Indeed, Brown Hair's hands had slowly stopped clawing. His entire body was still—like a marionette held still by invisible strings. Even his friends, Grey Eyes and Red Hair, seemed paralyzed as they watched their companion's eyes flit from side to side.

"Now comes the fun part." Youmu smiled coldly. "Like a singer who finds the perfect pitch of a piece of glassware, holding the note will…"

Brown Hair gagged and with a wet choking, expelled blood from his mouth. Danny watched, horrified, as blood slowly leaked from the man's orifices: nose, mouth, ears and eyes before he simply keeled over.

"What the—You killed him!" Red Hair shouted at Youmu.

"Technically, his chakra killed him." Youmu corrected, her voice conversational as a smile curled at her mouth. "We are not ones who likes to get their hands dirty. I, however, prefer a quicker method than my partner. Speaking of…" Youmu canted her head and stared deep into Red Hair's eyes. "Pull out your kunai and stab yourself in the heart."

"Wha—! No… No!" Red Hair backpedalled, but his arms were rising without his consent and he was only able to give his hands one last look of horror before he'd pushed the weapon into himself. With terrifyingly little ceremony, he fell.

Dead.

"We had an agreement!" Grey Eyes was backing away from Youmu and the dais. "You agreed to share the power! You should be honouring your agreement!"

Youmu chuckled lowly. "Hm hm hmmm… who do you think we are, boy? _Konoha_ ninja?"

"No! I won't let you kill me!" Grey Eyes fell into a defensive crouch and pulled out a kunai. "You wanna go? Let's do this, right here, I'll take you—"

" _Enough_." Came a new, deeply sinister voice and _now… Now,_ despite having just seen two people murdered in cold blood in front of him, _now_ Danny felt chilling spiders of dread track needle legs down his spine.

Grey Eyes didn't even have the time to turn around: a huge set of jaws clamping down over half his body. He screamed and thrashed as two large fangs ripped into his gut. Then he was tossed upward into the air and with a single gulp, a monstrously colossal snake swallowed the man whole.

The snake spat, coiled rapidly across the ground, then abruptly dissolved into nothing. Not even the body of the man it had devoured was left behind.

Danny felt physically ill. He had to grip the tree in front of himself hard to stop himself from sliding to the ground as his legs felt like rubber.

Three people had just been slaughtered right in front of him.

"Orochimaru. Teacher." Youmu spoke with quiet reverence as she and Hibiki bowed low. "Just as you ordered, we have brought you the Jinchuuriki and the scroll on the night of the full moon."

A tall, wiry man peeled way from the shadows. His hair was long and stringy; his face was painted and, though he stepped into the clearing, the shadows never left his snake-like eyes.

Danny knew, instinctively, that this man was not someone to be trifled with.

"Very good, my pupils…" The man even spoke like a snake, voice slick as oil and with an expression to match. "But you have made one failure. One rather glaring oversight."

The simpering smile on Youmu's face fell. It was the first time Danny had seen the dancer look worried. "T… to what do you refer, Master?"

"You failed to notice you were followed."

Danny felt his spine grow stiff, his limbs twitched with sudden alertness and where another might freeze in fear, Danny instead had to tramp down _hard_ on the _stupididioticyou'renotPHANTOManymore!_ adrenaline in his veins telling him to charge out there and fight his way to Naruto because there was a freaking _murderer who could control gigantic snakes_ between him and his kid.

"We have an interloper: an unsolicited guest to our little party. Let's see if we can't invite them to join, yes?"

Danny backed away, hands rising defensively, but the loud gasp form above him made him realize another, more terrible truth. His eyes snapped upward and he saw Sasuke. The boy was struggling against ropes that had appeared out of nowhere to bind him securely. Sasuke was dragged upward kicking and squirming into the air by some telekinetic force. Then the boy was dragged into the clearing toward Orochimaru.

And Danny was half out of his mind in panic because now they'd taken not just Naruto but _both_ Naruto and Sasuke and he wouldn't— _would not_. _No. Never again_ —

Danny half-rose and was about to throw himself into he clearing after Sasuke when a painfully familiar voice sternly stopped him in his tracks.

" _Get DOWN, you idiot. They haven't noticed you yet but they WILL if you make a spectacle of yourself."_

Years of listening to that voice and words spoken in _that tone_ had Danny instantly obeying and he swiftly dropped back down into the cover of the bushes.

What surprised him was that he _wasn't_ surprised. It made perfect sense that Sam would appear now of all times.

Orochimaru chuckled and there was a disquieting, hungry glint in his eyes as he pulled Sasuke toward himself and Danny snarled and needed people to _stop looking at his kids like that._

"Well, well… now aren't _you_ an unexpected bonus." Orochimaru leered at Sasuke. To his credit, the boy didn't show any fear. He simply glared back at Orochimaru, silent, as always.

"You are… Uchiha Sasuke, are you not?" Orochimaru cocked his head. "Last survivor of the once great and mighty Uchiha clan… or so they say."

"We saw him hanging around the Jinchuuriki a lot. Him and that one other kid. The foreigner." Youmu informed.

"Is that so? Become friends, have you? How… unoriginal. Now… _Sasuke._ Is that _really_ something you should be wasting you time on?" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at Sasuke. "You're the only one he left alive—though looking at you now, I can see why… you're quite the useless _runt_ of the litter, aren't you? He probably didn't even want to waste the energy it would take to kill you. And he was right. _Look_ at you. Instead of training to seek your revenge, you're playing around, cavorting and making friends. Letting all that potential your family left you with just _rot._ You don't even have your _Sharingan_ yet, do you? Urgh… a disappointment." Orochimaru, looked away from Sasuke, who was so clearly seething with indignation, he was shaking with the force of it. Gesturing dismissively, Orochimaru sent Sasuke against a tree. The boy was momentarily dazed by the impact and the ropes quickly bound Sasuke to the tree securely.

Danny sucked on his teeth as he got a good look at the red rage on Sasuke's face. With just a few words, Orochimaru had done quite a number on the kid's mental state. That was probably going to be a problem.

Still, despite the danger surrounding them, Danny couldn't help but feel his heart strum—practically _slaphappy_ —as he stole a glance at the ghostly girl by his side. Sam's presence was an incredible boon. It made him feel powerful—confident. Like he was no longer alone. Like he could _do_ this.

"Did you just wait until I was in the biggest amount of danger to show yourself?" He asked quietly and shot Sam a wry smirk. He couldn't help the humour bubbling up in him—almost hysterical, but not quite. He could control this. It had been _normal_ , once, after all.

She grinned back and it was dazzling sunlight. Beautiful. "Maybe." She responded. "Now stop ogling. There'll be time for that later. Right now we need to get you out of this alive."

Danny nodded, smile fading, but still present on the edges of his lips.

"There's no more of them coming, if you were wondering." She informed him, quick and efficient— _like back then_. "So we only need to get around these three. Hey, if you can wake the blond kid up, we'll out-number them."

"Sam, look at them. I can't take them. Even with Naruto and Sasuke's help. I'm just human now, I can't fight these guys."

Sam shot him an intensely irritated look. "Danny, shut up. Every time you doubt yourself it sets you back. It's pathetic and it drives me up the wall. Trust your instincts. If that's not good enough then trust _me_. And _I'm_ telling you to _trust your instincts_. Ok?"

Danny gave a slow nod.

"Good. Now that that's been dealt with… we need a plan." Sam mused.

"I can make my way around and cut Sasuke loose." Danny suggested.

"With what? Your teeth?" She snarked as she purposely looked him up and down.

Danny understood her sarcasm. He was wearing sneakers, socks, pants and a shirt—all thoroughly soaked by the rain—and that was all. He had nothing else on him and without his powers he was utterly weaponless. Instead of refuting her, he pointed with his chin to Sasuke tied to the tree. "Sasuke usually has one of those ninja knives on him. I can see him struggling—he's probably trying to reach it now."

Indeed, ignored by the others in the clearing, Sasuke was wriggling in his bonds. Orochimaru had swept through the clearing to stand over Naruto. He'd taken the scroll from Youmu's hand and had opened it up to study its contents. Rain cascaded down on Youmu and Orochimaru's bent shoulders.

Sam clucked her tongue. "By all rights, that scroll should be soggy by now. Bu… Wait. You said _ninja_ , right?"

Danny sent Sam a knowing smile. "Knew you'd like that part." He said quietly.

Sam shook her head in amazement. "That is _so_ not fair."

Danny winced, feeling the resentment in Sam's voice. He didn't reply.

"Ok, let's assume my head is wrapped fully around the fact that you apparently ran away from our home to an honest-to-God _ninja village_ and move right along. What do we know about Japanese Mr. and Mrs. Smith over there?" Sam continued, abruptly changing topics.

Danny tsked. "The man kills by playing his flute. The woman can mind control."

"That is freakin' cool." Sam intoned. When Danny raised an eyebrow at her she raised her hands up and shrugged. "Well it _is!_ "

"I think… I think their abilities might not work on me." Danny said hesitantly. He was pretty sure Youmu couldn't control him but he was only making a guess about Hibiki. "And I haven't met any ninjas yet who can see or hear ghosts, so you're likely going to be invisible from them."

"Ok." Sam accepted. "Good to know." Then, as the rain grew stronger, she commented, "Might as well move now. The rain will keep you quiet." Danny complied. Sam kept talking as she moved with him.

"Our best advantage is that they haven't noticed you yet. You've got to try and keep it that way—at least until we can separate them."

Danny nodded. He was closing in on Sasuke. He saw that, while a few lines of rope ran horizontally across the boy's chest pinning him firmly to the tree, Sasuke's wrists had been bound together in front of himself, making it so that he couldn't reach the weapons pouch on his back.

"Sasuke," Danny hissed and instantly the boy stilled his struggling. Danny reached down to Sasuke's pouch and pulled out a dagger, which he used to start sawing away the thick ropes holding Sasuke to the tree. "Listen, I need to try and get Naruto without them noticing me. Can you distract them?"

Sasuke gave a slow nod.

Danny did not like having to put Sasuke in danger but he pursed his lips and bore down. They didn't have a choice. "Don't be reckless." He advised Sasuke in a quiet undertone. "Don't let them get their hands on you. You saw what they can do, so don't stick around to let them. Don't give Hibiki time to find that note. Get far enough away _quickly_ so you can't hear Youmu. Don't engage them. Just get their attention and then run into the trees. Get them to chase you and try to lead them away toward Konoha. I'll handle the rest." Danny had no idea how he was going to 'handle' anything but no way was he going to tell Sasuke that. "You understand?"

Sasuke had a stubborn set to his face that spelled all kinds of trouble and Danny grit his teeth and gripped Sasuke's upper arm tightly. " _You understand?_ " He repeated.

Sasuke offered a tight, terse nod.

Danny would have to take it.

Behind him, Danny heard Sam hiss.

"What the hell is that freak doing?" She asked, revulsion in her tone.

Danny looked up and saw that Orochimaru had shorn through the centre of Naruto's shirt.

"He cut open his own hands." Sam continued.

Indeed, the snake-like man was bleeding from his fingertips. He was drawing arcane symbols on Naruto's abdomen. The man's hands were glowing and, as Danny watched, the entire dais began to glow with a dark, distinctly vile aura.

"What is he doing?" Sam repeated.

"I don't know." Danny replied quietly. "It can't be good though. We need to hurry."

Sasuke was staring at Danny with a narrow expression that clearly conveyed the message _'This again?'_

Obviously, Sasuke was not pleased that Danny was once again talking to invisible ghosts.

"I'll explain later." Danny said to Sasuke as the ropes split apart. "Hands."

Sasuke presented his bound wrists and Danny quickly cut through the rope.

"Be careful." Danny warned as Sasuke darted toward Youmu and Hibiki. Danny, moving just as fast, spun behind the tree and began closing the space between him and the dais where Naruto lay.

Someone cried out in alarm and pain. Danny peered around the edge of the tree and saw Youmu gripping her arm—now bleeding freely.

"Dammit, Sasuke." Danny groaned. He'd _told_ the kid not to engage.

"The kid is free!" Youmu yelled.

Sasuke had three daggers in his each hand. He launched a set of them at Orochimaru, but they were deflected by Hibiki, who swooped in to protect Orochimaru.

"Well, I'd suggest you capture him, then." Orochimaru suggested, his voice slow and dangerous. "I will kill anyone who interrupts this ceremony. Including you two."

Sasuke launched another couple of knives at Youmu, but this time she was ready and she dodged with a snarl. Finally making the smart decision, Sasuke turned and ran into the woods.

"Good job, kiddo." Danny admitted as he saw Sasuke successfully make his escape after effectively distracting both Hibiki and Youmu. Hopefully Sasuke would heed his instructions now and _run._

Focussing on his own target, Danny prepared himself to dash out into the clearing toward Orochimaru and Naruto. Maybe if he tackled Orochimaru first—

The soft tune of the flute halted Danny just as he began. He wasn't paralyzed but he could _feel_ the power in those notes and _knew_ Sasuke was in trouble.

Of _course_ Sasuke was too stubborn to just run.

The glowing around Naruto increased. The grin on Orochimaru's face widened.

" _Go!_ " Sam urged. "What are you waiting for?"

"I can't leave Sasuke…" Danny wavered.

"Well, make a decision _quick_ or they'll both be dead."

Turning on his heel and begging Naruto to forgive him, Danny sprinted in the direction he knew Sasuke had gone.

Following hints of blue chakra energy in the air, it took no time to track down Sasuke and his pursuers. He saw the kid standing shock-still, frozen in place by Hibiki's spell. Youmu was looming threateningly over Sasuke while Hibiki stood a few feet back. Hibiki's lips were to his flute, breathing out an eerie tone that once more gave Danny the unexplainable urge to sing. Danny tucked his head down, did his best to block out the sound and tried to think of a way out of this that wouldn't lead to all of them dying.

"What an honour." Youmu hummed with a smile. "To be the one to cut the final string in such an illustrious family line. Too bad you're so young. I would have enjoyed more of a fight. Maybe even some fun. Now… why don't you be a good little boy and use that kunai to slit your own throat?"

Danny's eyes widened. He remembered with vivid clarity how quickly Red Hair had responded to Youmu's order.

To his credit, Sasuke's hand did not move, resisting the compulsion more than Youmu's last victim.

"Now you have a spark of will, don't you? Too bad it will do you no good. _Cut your own throat. Now._ "

There was no more time for planning. Danny had to reach Sasuke _now_.

Sasuke's left hand gripped the kunai so tightly his knuckles were white. The boy's teeth were bared. His arm shook with the strain of resisting the woman.

Running full-tilt, Danny leaped in front of Sasuke and with a sharp slap he knocked the kunai out of Sasuke's hands. Sasuke staggered as the spell was broken.

"Get away from him." Danny ordered Youmu.

"Oh, so _there_ you are. I had a feeling when the Uchiha slipped his bonds you weren't far behind. Very nice." Youmu crouched and snarled. "I don't usually get my hands dirty, but I will enjoy gutting you. Hibiki, why don't you keep the Uchiha busy while I deal with this foreign trash."

Sasuke had moved to stand next to Danny and for a brief moment their eyes met. Danny nodded, saw the understanding in Sasuke's eyes, and then Sasuke had no more time as he was forced to dodge a strange, powerful gust of air aimed at him from Hibiki's flute.

Danny was forced to trust Sasuke to hold his own as he looked back at Youmu, fearlessly meeting her eyes.

"I have been meaning to ask you one question." Youmu said conversationally as she casually brandished a long, thin, single-edged blade. "May I?"

"What?" Danny said gruffly as he crouched and narrowed his eyes in caution. There was a barely visible blue glow around the woman.

Without warning, Youmu flew forward, blade slicing the air. Danny twisted, then pivoted in a full spin as he allowed the woman to fly by, inches away from skewering him. He fell back into a crouch and glared. They had effectively switched places and Youmu stood at ease with a smile on her face, as though she hadn't just tried to kill him.

"I've met a number of ninja who are capable of resisting my genjutsu. But I've never met one who is quite so good at hiding their chakra. Tell me, what _is_ your secret?"

Danny frowned, then shook his head. "You have it wrong. I'm not a ninja. You can't sense chakra from me because I don't have any."

Youmu's face suddenly grew ugly. "Liar!" She accused and abruptly closed the distance between them.

Danny gasped as he barely hopped backward in time to avoid a horizontal slash that would have split him in half. He back stepped quickly, dodging strikes that he could barely see. Then his back abruptly struck the unyielding trunk of a tree. He twisted again to avoid a stab, but felt the blade tear through his forearm.

Youmu's blade was momentarily lodged in the wood and Danny used the chance to put some distance between them.

"You can't fight her like this!" Sam told him from over his shoulder. "You need a weapon!"

"I know! I know!" Danny hissed. But there was nothing nearby. He gripped his injured left forearm—the blood flowed freely between his fingers. It hurt to move his fingers.

"I can sense it in you." Youmu snarled as she pointed her weapon at him. "You are sloppy and unskilled, but you have seen battle. You cannot be a civilian. My genjutsu has _never_ failed on a civilian."

Danny smirked.

"Well, _Youmu_." He teased. Phantom's instincts were rising strong in his mind and body. He could feel the adrenaline. He felt _alive._ "Guess you're not quite as bewitching as your name suggests, huh? And who're you calling unskilled anyway? You can't even kill a simple civilian foreigner."

Youmu scowled. "You're starting to grate on my nerves, boy."

"Aww… isn't that a shame?" Danny straightened and put a mocking finger to his lips. "What was it that you told me? 'Deny me a third time and I might think you don't like me?' Well, gee… I'm sorry it took you _three times_ to finally get the message."

"You're going to die." Youmu promised.

"Make me." Danny quipped. "Oh wait… you _can't_."

Youmu let out a yell of anger.

Danny suddenly remembered what that glowing blue around Youmu's body meant

"DANNY! BEHIND YOU!"

Danny heard Sam's outcry a split second after he felt the burning instinct to _move_. Eyes widening, he spun on his heel and saw the gleam of a blade slicing toward his neck. He let his legs give out, falling to the ground as the blade passed over his head—he felt sharp edge pass right over his nose, shearing off the tips of his fringe. Lying on the ground, he saw the blade come down and rolled to avoid it. Scooping up a handful of dirt he threw it in Youmu's face as he scrambled to his feet.

He glanced around wildly. The Youmu in front of him had vanished in a flash of blue chakra and a puff of smoke—Danny recalled seeing that technique in Iruka's class

 _Clone Technique_

The real Youmu had recovered, eyes wiped clean of mud, and was running forward, sword trailing behind.

She approached and swung the blade around. Danny was still recovering and ill-prepared to dodge. Old instincts flared and he raised his arms over his head and called on his power to form a ghost shield.

' _You haven't got powers!'_ His mind screamed at him and Danny's heart clamoured to beat through his chest as he realized he was about to lose his arms and life—

"What jutsu is this—?" Youmu exclaimed.

When Danny realized he wasn't dead yet, he squinted his eyes open and looked beyond his arms.

He gasped as he saw crystals of rain frozen in the air before him. The blade hovered just above the ice, hesitating. Youmu had stopped mid-strike to stare at the bizarre display.

Danny's breath fogged.

"Ice?" He breathed as he stared at the tiny shards.

' _But… but the ghost was gone!'_

But this…

This…had never even been one of his ghost powers.

"Sam?" He looked at the ghost next to him. "Is this you?"

Sam was standing next to him and a triumphant smirk was on her face as she held out her hands in front of her, mimicking Danny's stance.

"No." She said and grinned wider. "This is _us_."

And she thrust her hands forward. The ice shot toward Youmu, tiny projectiles that pelted the woman.

Youmu yelped and backed away, more out of shock and surprise than pain.

"Danny! That's only going to distract her!" Sam said.

But Danny knew what he had to do. While on the ground, he'd glimpsed Sasuke, who had been fighting Hibiki. The boy wasn't doing well. He'd lasted this long but Danny saw that the flute player had managed to paralyze the boy again and likely going to use the same technique he'd used to kill the Konoha genin.

Danny dashed forward and the thrill of _power_ was in him as he bent down and ran his fingers through a puddle of water. The water responded eagerly to his touch and warped to form a heavy, hard piece of ice, Danny gripped the weapon and swung his arm around as hard as he could and struck Hibiki in the head.

The man staggered away and Danny dropped the ice—which immediately melted into water— and turned to Sasuke, who was staring at him in surprise.

"Sasuke! Switch!" He called and Sasuke immediately understood, moving to keep Youmu busy.

"Hey! Ugly!" Danny called with a grin and he pointed behind the man. "Look behind you!"

Hibiki frowned and looked at Danny as though the boy was stupid.

Sam, standing behind Hibiki and controlling a club of ice, swung it like a bat.

Danny winced at the loud _crack_ of the bat meeting Hibiki's skull. Two blows to the head were apparently enough and the man crumpled.

Danny looked down at Hibiki and let out a shaky breath. "Is he…?"

"Who cares? We still have things to do!" Sam responded.

Danny was still uneasy but nodded and turned. Sasuke was doing a pretty good job of avoiding Youmu's blade. The boy was doing his best to retaliate with thrown shuriken, but other than irritating the woman, the attacks didn't seem to be doing much.

"So Sam, how does this ice thing work?" Danny asked.

"Like I know? You're the one who has… _had_ ghost powers."

Danny sensed the judgement in Sam's voice but held off on commenting on that. "It was instinct for me. But I don't have that… connection anymore. Can't you feel anything?"

"I think the cold is you, but the power is me." Sam said after a moment's hesitation.

Danny nodded. He could work with that. "Ok. So we should have range."

"What do you…? Ohhh… Ok." Sam grinned.

Youmu was brandishing her blade. She lunged forward toward Sasuke who held up a kunai defensively. Danny extended a hand and Sam copied the move.

The watery grass under Youmu's feet abruptly froze solid. The woman gasped as her feet slipped out from under her. Her hands planted down into a puddle to catch her balance and instantly the puddle froze to entrap both her hands. Similarly, the ice under the woman's feet rose to encase her ankles.

"You!" Youmu's eyes blazed as she glared at Danny. "I knew you were no civilian!"

"Sasuke! We gotta get to Naruto!" Danny yelled as he raced past Sasuke at a dead run. The ice wouldn't hold Youmu for long and they still had to deal with Orochimaru.

They entered the clearing and slid to a halt, gasping at what they saw.

The clearing was alight with sinister power. Orochimaru's eyes were glowing red. The scroll in his hands was spilling black light like a void opening.

Naruto's entire upper body was covered in bloody symbols. The boy's eyes were still closed and Orochimaru finished the last lines on a symbol that ended between the boy's eyes.

"Yessss… and with this the power of the Kyuubi will be _mine_. Come, host, open to me and give your power to one more deserving of the honour!" Orochimaru made a series of hand gestures then thrust his palm over Naruto's abdomen.

Naruto's eyes slammed open. His mouth opened and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Danny recoiled. At his side, he felt Sasuke do the same.

Naruto's back arched off the dais. His shriek continued, head thrashing as he looked to be in terrible agony.

Danny blinked and his eyes abruptly focussed on something new. Something he had no idea how he'd missed in the first place.

The fox had been a constant, sleeping presence on Naruto's shoulder for as long as he'd known the boy. In all their time together, the fox had moved only once and had never awoken. These days Danny almost forget it was there. Not now though. Now it was different.

The fox was awake.

Bright eyes—the color of fresh blood—rolled wildly as the spirit writhed. Tails whipped the air in a frenzy as the fox seemed to claw at Naruto's chest, though its nails drew no blood..

But that wasn't all. Danny's eyes widened.

The fox was _growing._

Tails fanned out, the creature let out a howl that echoed eerily with Naruto's scream.

"We have to stop that spell!" Sam was yelling.

Suddenly, Sasuke was no longer at Danny's side. The Uchiha bounded across the clearing and then leapt into the air. Danny watched, stunned, as Sasuke seemed to float. The boy's hands flew, making odd symbols before steepling below his mouth.

In a strong voice, Sasuke bellowed the first words he'd spoken since he'd woken up screaming Itachi's name all those months ago:

" _Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"_

The rush of hot air blew Danny's hair back and the light of the fire reflected off his wide eyes as Sasuke created a massive fireball that fell toward Orochimaru like a meteor.

"No!" Danny lunged forward, but was quickly blown back by the force of the explosion as the fireball hit the dais and the spot where Orochimaru had been standing. Flat on his back, Danny quickly rose to his elbows. "Naruto!"

Sasuke landed gently on the ground.

Danny twisted and lunged ungracefully to his feet. He ran unsteadily toward the dais and then he gasped in relief as he saw a mop of blond hair through the smoke. Somehow, Naruto had come out unscathed.

"You've got a flare for the dramatics, kid." Danny intoned with quiet awe to Sasuke, who merely raised a withering eyebrow at him. "Not that I'm complaining. If _that's_ what happens when you open your mouth, I'm glad you waited til now."

The smoke was beginning to clear and Danny saw that Naruto appeared conscious. The boy's eyes were wide open and he was gasping for breath. The nine-tailed fox was still visible and too large, its head down and body trembling wildly. The black power of the perverse spell lit up the clearing, though it was no longer flowing toward Orochimaru.

And Orochimaru… Danny felt a chill as the smoke cleared and the man came into view. He was a little charred, face blackened with soot and the edges of his hair fried. But other than that he seemed completely unharmed.

' _A giant flaming fireball couldn't take him down. Fenton, you are so screwed.'_ Danny felt a thrill of hysteria at that thought and had to stifle an uncontrolled giggle that rose in his throat.

"You little _cockroaches!_ " Orochimaru spat as he glared at Danny and Sasuke. The very air around the man seemed to blacken. "You've interrupted the unsealing! You have no idea what you've done."

Danny felt keenly that he and Sasuke were in mortal peril. He knew their lives were on balancing on a thin line that would snap as easily as the snake-faced man's temper. He _knew_ it.

As surely as he knew all this, he was just as sure that there was no stopping the giddy grin that was spreading rapidly across his face. Danny felt his pulse spike. He couldn't help himself. He laughed.

"Your looking a little _burnt out_." Danny quipped as he practically hopped from foot to foot. "You sure you don't want to take a break and continue this evil plot some other time?"

He didn't need to look to his side. He could _feel_ Sasuke's incredulous stare boring into him.

Orochimaru looked at him with disgust. "You _simpleton_. You fashion yourself some parlour tricks and ally with a child and you _presume_ to pit yourself against me? You are less than the dirt on the soles of my shoes."

"Well, this bit of dirt and this child just shut down your sorry little plan so what does that make you?" Danny's eyes narrowed, grin finally fading into a feeling he was well familiar with: _protectiveness_. "And I don't _presume_ to do anything. You started this when you went after my—" Danny glanced down at Sasuke. "— _Our_ friend."

Orochimaru sneered. "Like I said: you understand _nothing_."

Just then, Naruto let out a pained outcry.

Danny's eyes shot to the boy and saw that Naruto had clawed his way off the dais. He was on his knees on the ground and was clutching oddly at his chest. He was shaking. Perspiration beaded on his forehead. Above Naruto, the fox was floating in the air. It had grown to the size of a large bear. It gnashed its teeth and let out a growling howl. At the same time, Naruto groaned.

"Wh—what's happening? What's happening to me?!" Naruto cried to the air, shaking his head wildly.

"The seal wasn't broken, but I did enough to make it unstable." Orochimaru informed happily, an unsettling smirk cutting across his face. "If the spell had continued to fruition the Kyuubi would have transferred from its current host to me. Everyone could have walked away better off. Now, because of your interference, the Kyuubi has awakened with enough power to break its remaining bindings. It will destroy the mind of its host and likely take over the shell body. Pat yourselves on the back—you've killed the very friend you aimed to save."

The Kyuubi was still growing. It roared and lighting split the sky.

"Sasuke… you can see this, right?" Danny needed to make sure.

Sasuke nodded.

"Any idea what to do?"

Sasuke shook his head.

"Sam?" Danny asked.

The ghost at his side clenched her hands into fists.

"No. I'm sorry, Danny."

Naruto was clutching his head and a deep red glow was taking over his body.

Danny stepped forward.

"What are you going to do?" Sam asked.

"I don't know." Danny admitted. "But I need to get to him. I won't let that ghost-thing…Kyuubi… kill him. Maybe I can talk to him."

" _Is_ it a ghost?" Sam asked. "If it is…"

"I dunno if it makes much difference." Danny said. "Unless you happened to have a Fenton Thermos on you."

Danny took another step forward when he abruptly felt the unmistakeable sharp prick of danger. Diving abruptly aside, Danny nearly avoided being crushed by a large, shifting… _hissing_ tree trunk.

Danny looked up and saw the tree trunk was actually a horrifically massive hooded cobra. The snake's head weaved hypnotically above him. The thing spat dangerously, displaying large fangs dripping with venom.

"Oh no. I'm not letting you interfere again. You may have stopped the unsealing but if the Kyuubi overtakes its host and lays waste to Konoha… well, at least one of my goals will have been satisfied." Orochimaru gloated.

Danny raised his hands and backed away from the snake. "Whoa there big guy. Now… now hey… hey… Oh," Danny's eyes lit up and, vaguely he heard Sam groan at his side as she realized what was coming. "I heard you're on good terms with Danzo." Danny shot a look at Orochimaru and the man's eyes narrowed.

"Being that close to the council, you should try out for a position in the government…" Danny's smirk grew into a full-blown grin.

"You'd make an awesome civil _serpent_."

The look on Orochimaru's face was murderous. The snake hissed violently.

Danny raised his hands, placating. "Oh, hey, can't we at least _worm_ our way into an agreement… _shed_ our past _hiss_ tor—Yikes!" Danny was leaping aside even as his brain registered that the snake had lunged at him. The head snapped out, fangs biting down in the space he'd just occupied.

Just as suddenly, the snake reared back, letting out a choking sound of pain as it tossed its head side to side. Danny saw embedded in one of the snake's eyes a piece of metal. The teen looked down and saw Sasuke readying a second kunai to throw.

But then the coils of the snake bunched and it whipped its tail across the ground.

Sasuke had a moment to gasp and bring his hands up to protect his face before he was struck by the snake and tossed aside.

"Danny!" Sam called.

"On it!" Danny took a moment to re-establish his connection with Sam. He _reached_ , extended his hand to a large pool of water nearby. This time he felt the energy coursing through him. He felt the power _burn_ in his hands and in his eyes, and he focused.

The water obeyed and lifted. It shifted and re-shaped. It grew long and sharp until it was a spear of ice, glittering in the light of Naruto's red chakra.

The snake had slithered over to the prone Sasuke and was rearing back slowly, preparing to sink its fangs into the boy.

Danny held the ice spear in mid-air. It _felt_ heavier than an ectoblast—which was odd… But then, who even knew how telekenetic powers worked anyway?—It also felt more unwieldy.

He gauged the distance between him and the snake.

The snake hissed, mouth opening wide.

This time he didn't bother with any witticisms. Danny reared back then flung his arm forward, his entire body twisting into the motion as he threw the spear as hard as he could.

The spear arced gracefully through the air and for a moment Danny worried that the snake might lunge before the spear hit.

But Danny's aim was true and the spear pierced through the back of the snake's head. The snake let out a pained sound and spasmed backward. Danny saw the spear had exited out the roof of the snake's mouth and was dripping blood. The snake fell, like a massive, falling redwood it struck the ground with a ground-shaking thud.

This time, Sam was the one who looked uncomfortable. Danny offered her a sympathetic look.

"I'm so—"

His apology cut off as the snake abruptly vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

"Well, well, the foreign rat has little fangs. How adorable." Orochimaru grinned. "I _like_ how you can summon ice without chakra or hand seals. But it looked like it took you quite some time to get that ready. I wonder… what if we… upped the stakes?" Orochimaru began making symbols with his hands and Danny dropped into a defensive crouch.

"What are you…?"

Orochimaru thrust his arm forward and _snakes and snakes_ poured from his sleeve like water from a sieve. They writhed in the air, slithered through the grass, cutting a path too quick to follow—too many to count—

Danny gasped and backpedalled.

"There's too many!" Sam exclaimed.

Danny raised his hands and called the ice. But then, as the snakes surged forth he realized he wasn't the intended target.

" _Sasuke!_ " Danny yelled and there was no _time_ to form the ice. He swiped his hand and threw a thin shield at the snakes. He saw them swerve to avoid it but Danny was running toward Sasuke. He skidded in the water then crouched next to the boy.

Sasuke was still unconscious and Danny gathered him up before curling around him protectively.

"Danny!" Sam cried and Danny felt her attempt to build a shield of ice around him.

There was no time. The snakes lunged forward and Danny closed his eyes and hugged Sasuke close. If he could just keep them off Sasuke—!

Then he heard Orochimaru bellow in in rage and his head rose.

He saw a flash of metal and the snake about to bite down on him was abruptly yanked aside and pinned to a tree. The next two snakes followed, then half a dozen more. Danny gaped as a dozen snakes were flawlessly killed by a hail of kunai knives.

Orochimaru was scowling at the surrounding trees, glaring at the general spot where the hail of kunai had come from.

"So this is where you stand, is it?" The man spat. "Very well, I do not intend to pick a fight with you today."

Danny stared into the trees, trying to glimpse whoever had just saved his and Sasuke's lives. Had help finally arrived from Konoha?

There came the sound of a crow cawing and Danny stilled, his eyes widening as his grip on Sasuke tightened.

"You got very lucky today." Orochimaru told Danny as he looked down at him disdainfully.

"And as for you…" Orochimaru's eyes dropped and Danny looked down as well. He saw that Sasuke was awake and glaring at the man with a dark expression. "Perhaps one day you will desire to attain _true_ power and stop hiding in the arms of others. If that day comes and you decide to honour the name of your family then seek me out with eyes of _red_."

Sasuke stiffened in Danny's arms. Then with a puff of smoke, Orochimaru was gone.

Immediately, Sasuke was up on his feet and pushing away from Danny.

Danny didn't have time to deal right now to deal with the effect of Orochimaru's poisonous words. He, too, pushed to his feet and dashed to Naruto. He fell on his knees in front of Naruto. The boy was still hunched over and gripping his hair in apparent pain.

"Naruto…" Danny raised his hands and then hesitated as he looked at the glowing red chakra boiling over Naruto's body. Then, with conviction, Danny placed both hands firmly on Naruto's shoulders. He felt the power coursing through the child, like an unquellable tide.

"Naruto, tell me what's going on. What's happening?"

"I…don't know." Naruto shook his head in distress, his voice coming out tight and pained. "It… It hurts. I can't stop it. It's… It's angry."

"Danny…" Sam drew up next him and stared at Naruto. "That fox…"

"I know." He told Sam and looked up at the beast behind Naruto. So large now, it was almost taller than the trees, the fox thrashed and shook. It bared its teeth at the air but didn't seem to see Danny—see _anything_.

Sam was staring unblinkingly, as though she could see something Danny couldn't. "I think… I think they sealed that thing inside the boy. But it's angry. It wants to get out."

Danny nodded and waited for Sam to continue.

"The spell that man did. It broke the seal a little. I think I can see the break."

"You what?" Danny gawked at Sam, who was looking down at Naruto. Danny followed her gaze but couldn't see anything.

"We're different, you and I, from everyone else here." She intoned. "You must have realized it by now—it's why they all think you're dead."

"Ok… but what does that have to do with anything?" Danny wondered.

"They all have this power they can use to fight…"

"Chakra."

Sam nodded. "But back home you used a different sort of power to fight."

Danny blinked, then suddenly the answer came to him. "E… ectoplasm?"

Sam nodded again. "You were a fool to try and rip out your ghost half, Danny. It was such a gift. It could have allowed you to help this kid all on your own."

"Sam…" Danny said quietly.

"Now we'll have to build a bridge another way. We need the other boy."

"Sasuke," Danny looked over to the black haired boy who appeared lost in thought. " _Sasuke!_ "

Sasuke looked up at him, his eyes unreadable, face blank.

"For Godssake, Sasuke!" Danny chided. "I know what Orochimaru said messed with your head but are you seriously going to let one defeat mess you up like that? You're _eight_. You haven't even started training as a ninja yet. There are _many people_ out there who could probably kick the stuffing out of you."

He saw Sasuke's gaze darken but didn't let that deter him.

"Look. If you want to seek whatever power that snake has then go for it. Go seek help from the big bad ninja who spends his time beating up kids. Go see if that will make you a better person. More _powerful._ " Danny's lips twisted as he sneered out this word. He felt his words wrench something within himself. _Power._ That was a word that was poisonous not just to Sasuke but to Danny as well. "But if there was a moment, even for a second, that Naruto ever helped you—that ever gave you a moment of relief or fulfillment—then you _owe_ it to him to stay and help."

Danny saw the indecision in Sasuke's eyes but broke eye contact and looked away back at Sam.

"You should be harder on him. I know what to do but I don't have the required power." Sam said with irritation. "We need his chakra."

"Why can't I do it?" Danny responded.

"You've said it yourself." Sam responded. "You have no chakra."

"That _can't_ be. I'm alive, right? So I've got to have chakra."

"Unless you're less _alive_ than you think."

Danny inhaled and was about to respond when he felt a presence at his side.

Sasuke was standing resolute, not making eye-contact, his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"Good." Danny acknowledged the boy and then looked at Sam.

"I'll make the bridge with him and then you'll have to cross it." Sam said.

"Hold out your hands." Danny told Sasuke. Sam reached out and placed her ghostly hands under Sasuke, who did not react.

"Tell him to give me access to his chakra. I can't do this if he's all walled off." Sam instructed.

Danny blinked, then looked at Sasuke. "My friend is here. She's going to work with you to make a… a path to Naruto… To that thing inside him that's hurting him. You saw how I was able to create ice before, right?"

Sasuke looked at Danny and nodded.

"Well, that was me and her working together. What she needs right now is to use your chakra. I don't know how chakra works but try to… open your mind. Let her guide you."

Sasuke looked unsure.

"It's not going to hurt you." Danny paused then added. "You're going to have to trust me."

Sasuke frowned, his lips tightening. Then he gave a curt nod and closed his eyes. Sasuke was not one to do things halfway and almost instantly, the boy's hands began glowing bright white.

Sam looked pleased. "It's working! Danny, it's up to you."

Danny nodded and reached out to the glowing orb above Sasuke's hands.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Danny blinked and realized he was no longer in the grassy, waterlogged clearing. Instead he was kneeling in a massive, regal hallway. Before him was a gate carved with ornate lettering. Bars of heavy metal marked the gateway as the entrance to a prison.

Danny rose off his knees and gazed into the depths of the prison. But he could see nothing at all. Beyond the bars was utter pitch-blackness.

Danny shuddered when a low, deep chuckle echoed through the room. The voice was so deep it made Danny's heart thrum, like the vibration of a low string note, or a deep drum.

" _Come closer,"_ The voice bade him.

Hesitantly, Danny obeyed and took a few steps closer to the bars.

Abruptly, Danny stopped and gasped, staring up at a huge set of red eyes that had opened before him. Then there was a glint of white and lips pulled back over a massive set of sharp white teeth.

Staggering back, Danny's eyes widened as the impressive form of the massive nine-tailed fox came into view behind the bars: long regal tails arching up and deadly claws that could effortlessly rend Danny from head to toe.

"Wh… what _are_ you?" Danny asked.

" _What you see before you is only a shadow of the splendour I am. The truth of my form is grander than any mountain, more vast than any ocean, for I am Kyuubi, demon fox of nine-tails."_ The spirit responded in its heart-deep voice.

Danny frowned. "If you're so great and grand, what are you doing in Naruto?"

" _I was deceived. A moment of distraction and they sealed me in this imp. But now there is a crack in the seal… nothing will stop me from regaining my strength and raining destruction upon those who would dare to oppose me."_ The beast reared back and then threw itself at the bars, making the entire room shake.

"Whoa!" Danny wobbled as he was nearly thrown off his feet. "Wait… wait a sec, foxy. Can't we discuss this? Isn't there a less… deadly solution possible?"

" _You are a brazen jester. Not only a simpleton but also a coward willingly shackled away from your own power. I can sense it in you._ Halfling _is what you are, no matter your attempts to flay it from yourself. If you wish to stop me why not fight me with your true teeth and claws and put conviction behind your words?"_

The Kyuubi tossed itself at the bars again and this time the structure gave an ominous groan.

"I don't get why everyone keeps telling me that I still have ghost powers!" Danny yelled at the nine-tailed fox as his temper frayed. He was here for _Naruto_ but he couldn't help it—couldn't help being baited by this creature—this _monster_ that thought it knew him better than he knew himself. "I _got rid of it_! It's _gone!_ "

The Kyuubi was apparently done talking to Danny and instead it gave a loud roar. Danny saw that a dark red energy was beginning to seep out the spaces between the bars.

Abruptly, like a key turning in his brain, Danny realized that none of his concerns mattered.

All this time he had been so concerned about what his powers meant to _him_. He wanted to get rid of them to absolve himself of the guilt of failing his family and friends. He thought if he didn't have them then he couldn't be blamed for bad things that happened because he didn't have the power to stop them.

…How selfish could he get?

He left Amity Park because _he_ was too weak to face his guilt. He wanted his family to stay with him and not move on to peace because _he_ missed them. He'd wanted Naruto and Sasuke around because they helped _him_ recover.

The Kyuubi had made no illusions as to its goal: it fully intended to rip Naruto apart and wreak its revenge.

Danny's eyes narrowed and he made his decision.

Walking steadily, resolutely, toward the bars to Kyuubi's cage, Danny raised his hands and gripped the bars. They burned his palms—not through heat or frost but by _power_. Chakra. He ignored the pain and grit his teeth, delving deep into himself with intention that had once been as familiar as slipping on a shoe.

 _Come on!_ He reached within himself for the beast—that powerful core that had brought joy and ruin to his life.

Nothing happened.

Kyuubi's laugh echoed through Danny and the teen felt sweat drip down his face. His hands shook from tension. From pain.

" _You've failed!_ " The Kyuubi crowed and a bust of powerful chakra exploded out of the cell.

Danny felt his grip falter as the chakra burned his face and arms. It stripped away skin and caused painful welts on his body. His vision started to blacken.

" _I will break free! This host will be cracked open and left to burn as I set fire to Konoha! I will bring fire down from the heavens and have lightning turn the people to dust. None will survive my revenge. It is a shame—Halfling, that you will be dead and gone and unable to see the beautiful land of ash I will create._ "

"No…" Danny grunted and he felt a spark ignite from within him.

" _You cannot stop me!"_

"No!" Danny cried again and his grip tightened on the bars. _'I won't let this happen. Not while I live!'_

" _You are_ _ **weak!**_ _"_

Danny tuned out the voice of the Kyuubi. _'The power is_ mine _. I control it! I_ will _save the people I care about.'_

Danny screamed as green light exploded from his hands and arched up the bars like a current of electricity. The Kyuubi let out a bellow of rage, but Danny didn't hear it as he was utterly taken by the power that he forced into the seal. It deafened him and drowned him and he welcomed it. He—his _self_ —was nothing. Fear, worry, guilt was all stripped away as he focused on his singular intention to save Naruto.

The energy poured from him in waves, until finally Danny sensed that it was enough. He let go of the bars, and observed that they were now a bright green. Behind them, Kyuubi was huffing with spent energy and eying Danny with anger.

Feeling lighter than he had in a very long time, Danny backed away. He looked down at his arm and saw that it was covered in a white glove.

"Heh…" He chuckled as a true smile tugged at his lips. "Goin' Ghost."

Then the spirit world warped around him and he felt himself spiralling rapidly into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Danny awoke and the first thing he realized was that he was back in the forest clearing with Sam, Sasuke and Naruto.

The second thing he realized was that he was back in his normal clothes and not in ghost form.

The third thing he realized was that it was still raining, he was on his knees and he was really tired of having soggy hair in his eyes.

The glow of the Kyuubi had faded from around Naruto and Danny reached forward to touch the boy as blue eyes opened.

"Naru—"

Naruto's eyes suddenly widened the boy reached out to Danny's shoulder. Danny gasped as he was suddenly, abruptly shoved sideways into the ground, Naruto pushing him aside like he was a ragdoll.

"NO!" Danny heard Sam scream and he quickly rose up on his elbows up to see what had happened.

He felt a cold rush of fear as he stared uncomprehendingly. Naruto was slumping against the dais as a sword protruded from his chest. Sam was hovering over the boy but glaring at someone to the side.

Following Sam's glare, Danny saw Youmu standing with a wide stance, her arm still held out in front of her from having completed the motion of throwing the sword.

"Hah," Youmu gasped. "Not the brat I was aiming for, but I guess you'll do."

Sasuke snarled wordlessly and leapt at the woman. But before he could reach her there was a puff of smoke and Youmu was stiffening as a kunai was held to her throat.

"Heard you were scampering about on the rooftops." Kakashi said conversationally, looking at Danny as he held Youmu in place. "Decided to check it out. Good thing we did."

Danny was hardly listening. Instead, he'd scrambled to get up on all fours, exhaustion weighing on all his limbs as he moved examine Naruto.

"Naruto!" He cried, hands fluttering helplessly over the sword that impaled the boy. It entered his shoulder, high above the heart but didn't exit out the other side.

Naruto was thankfully unconscious. Danny hesitated even to move the boy, knowing that jostling the weapon could do even more harm. For all his training at the hospital here he was helpless again, unable to do anything to help this boy who had wormed his way into his heart and become _family_.

Then another voice came loudly from his side and Danny's attention was pulled away.

"Danny, Danny, it's ok. Everything's going to be ok." Danny felt hands at his shoulders pulling him back and he turned to see Mr. Haruno looking down at him in concern.

"Sakura saw you nearly fall from the rooftops." Mr. Haruno explained his presence. "It took a while to track you down."

Danny looked back to see Gai standing next to Naruto. The man looked unusually grave.

"Please! Be careful!" Danny called, stretching out a hand as Gai leaned over to pick up Naruto.

Showing more care than Danny had expected from the normally boisterous man, Gai gathered Naruto into his arms and lifted the boy, infinitely gentle.

"Don't worry." Gai nodded at Danny. "This one's light of youthfulness will not be extinguished today. I will take him straight to Shizune." And with that, Gai disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I'm sorry." Sam said, her eyes shining as she looked at Danny. Danny glanced up and noticed for the first time that she looked faded. Drained. He wondered vaguely if that was because of how much energy she's expended in their fight against Orochimaru.

He opened his mouth even as he had no words for her. Nevertheless, Sam seemed to read him better than he could himself. Apparently gathering something from his expression, a small smile lifted her lips. That expression was both sad and tolerant, patient and fondly exasperated. Forgiving and loving. It spoke more clearly than any words that could have been exchanged between them.

Voices of those around him, of the living, pulled Danny's gaze away from Sam.

"Are you ok? You look like you've been hurt." Mr. Haruno worried. Danny was still on his hands and knees and Mr. Haruno offered him a hand.

Danny gratefully took the help and pulled himself sluggishly to his feet. "I'm fine. Just a little tired." _Tired_ was an understatement. Whatever he'd done to Kyuubi in the spirit world had wiped him out. He was also still bleeding from numerous minor injuries he'd sustained. Nothing he'd taken had been worse than Naruto though. He needed to get back to Konoha—needed to know whether Naruto was going to be ok.

Danny looked back to the dais and noticed that Sam had disappeared. He felt a sad tug at his mind but, for the first time, he also felt a release of pain around his heart—maybe now all his friends and family could move on and have peace.

And maybe he could, too.

As people with headbands and padded vests swarmed the clearing, Sasuke stood in the middle of it all, looking somewhat lost as people ignored him.

"Sasuke," Danny called and slowly made his way over to the boy.

Danny hugged himself as he looked down at the boy. "You ok?"

Sasuke nodded.

"Not hurt anywhere?"

Sasuke shook his head.

Danny gave a sigh of relief. "That's good, at least."

The boy raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked Danny up and down.

"Me? I'm not sure." Danny's voice lowered as he recalled they were not alone. "I think I managed to stop the Kyuubi but now I'm wiped. Going to need to lie down after we check on Naruto."

"Did you say Kyuubi?" A new voice asked.

Danny looked over as Anko approached him.

"What's this about the Kyuubi?" She said as she neared.

Danny hesitated, wondering for a moment how much Anko had heard, but then decided the simplest explanation was best. "You remember you guys were talking about Orochimaru when we went out for dinner? Well, turns out he was trying to unseal the Kyuubi from Naruto."

Anko stared at Danny with her mouth open and then her hands clenched into fists and she snarled.

"Orochimaru!" She hissed then looked at Danny. "How did you survive?"

Danny shrugged, not taking offense to the entirely valid question. "I think he was more interested in unsealing the Kyuubi than killing me. Also…" Danny thought about Itachi and thought about the ice and decided to leave both of those things out of the conversation. "Sasuke helped."

Danny felt the slightest touch against his leg and looked down to see that Sasuke had moved close to his side. The boy was frowning up at Anko defiantly. Danny smiled.

"What is going on here?" A familiar voice called across the clearing.

Danny turned and instantly a scowl crossed his face as he saw Danzo walking toward Youmu and Kakashi.

"He killed my partner!" Youmu suddenly cried and though she'd been restrained she jutted her chin condemningly in Danny's direction. "My partner was just a simple musician and he did nothing wrong. That white devil must have been stalking me. He came up behind us and killed my friend. Then when I tried to get my just revenge, the blond child jumped out in front of the foreigner. I did nothing wrong!"

Danny felt a wave of incredulity come over him at this audacious story. No one would believe such a story. Except… Danny saw the red glow in the woman's eyes. He felt himself blanche as a few ninja looked at him with suspicious gazes.

"Is this true?" Danzo asked as he approached Danny his gaze shrewd.

At his side, Danny felt Sasuke bristle and remembered that the boy probably had his own unpleasant memories of the man.

"It's unlikely." Kakashi intoned and, ignoring the woman's protests, he pulled aside her collar revealing the metal-plated headband tied around her neck. Unlike Konoha ninja, who had a leaf pattern on their headbands, Youmu's headband was engraved with a music note. "They're ninja. Unless they're so incompetent that they can be taken down by a civilian."

"He has strange powers." Youmu insisted with a simper. "He beguiles people into believing he's harmless."

"So says the woman who uses genjutsu to influence other people's minds?" Kakashi said conversationally and only then did a few suspicious gazes turn away from Danny and move back to Youmu.

Danny meanwhile was glaring at Danzo. Too weary to be cautious and too angry to care, Danny strode up to the ex-councilman, Sasuke on his heels. The rain was still falling, so Danny was assured some privacy as he leaned in and spoke his next words at the man in a low, cold tone.

"I know you've been gunning to get rid of me from the start. For whatever reason you want me out of Konoha." Danny accused.

Danzo smirked and did not reply.

"Well, if you want me gone you're going to have to kill me. You toss me out and who knows who I'll tell about who was _really_ responsible for what happened here tonight…?"

Danzo's smirk fell and his expression grew dangerous.

"Careful with your words boy. There is more than one way to silence a foreign rat."

It didn't escape Danny that this was twice now in the same night that he'd been called a foreign rat. The other time the slur had come from Orochimaru's mouth.

"Perhaps. But I have my doubts that you'd want to silence the last remaining member of the illustrious Uchiha clan." Danny looked down at Sasuke who was watching and listening with keen eyes. "And given what he just heard, it'd be suspicious for me to turn up dead tomorrow, yes?"

Danzo sneered. "You are playing a dangerous game, foreigner. You'd do well to keep that long nose of yours out of other people's business."

The man walked away then and Danny relaxed. "It's no game." He promised. Then, he looked down at Sasuke, noticing that the boy was listing, looking as exhausted as he felt. He thought about telling the kid to go home, but didn't want Sasuke to be on his own tonight. Especially not at those haunted Uchiha grounds.

"You coming?" He asked Sasuke, who looked up at him. "We can crash at the hospital tonight."

Sasuke hesitated barely a moment before giving a quick nod.

Kakashi had handed off Youmu to another ninja and was standing at the edge of the clearing. Danny paused as he passed the man.

"Are we free to go?" He asked, his voice dry.

"For now." Kakashi acquiesced mildly. "I would recommend staying near to the hospital. There will be questions that will need answering."

Danny gave a weary nod and he and Sasuke left the clearing.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

Danny stepped into the hospital and was immediately met by Yakushi, the new medic-ninja in the hospital.

After their first meeting—the hospital tour that had cumulated in the odd, uncomfortable scene on the rooftop—Yakushi had adopted a quirky, if somewhat intense, attitude around Danny.

Danny was no stranger to eccentric behaviour and, though Yakushi sometimes unnerved him and had no concept of personal space, Danny made an effort to be friendly with the teen. Eventually, Yakushi had yielded to Danny his first name: Kabuto.

Perhaps because of their similar ages, the two had formed a quiet sort of alliance. Kabuto didn't dismiss him or dump undesirable work on Danny like most of the other staff did. And in return, Danny didn't isolate the talented medic-nin.

Kabuto was incontrovertibly skilled at his work. Many medic-ninjas gossiped that he was a shoe-in to pass the next chuunin exams. But still, the grey-haired teen was quiet and standoffish. The other hospital staff took this behaviour to mean he was aloof and conceited and so veered away from him.

Danny, for his part, also found Kabuto odd. But it wasn't because he was withdrawn.

The teen was just… odd.

"You were in the woods." Kabuto said in a whisper as he came close to Danny's shoulder.

Danny subtly shifted away and disguised the movement by bending to remove his shoes and do his best to wring out his clothes and shake out his hair over the threshold. It was a great relief to finally be indoors and out of the rain.

Danny heard a loud sneeze and he looked down to see Sasuke looking unusually sheepish. The boy avoided his gaze. Danny moved to grab a towel but found that Kabuto had already taken one and was bending down to offer it to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at Kabuto suspiciously, then glanced up at Danny. Before Danny could nod in encouragement, Sasuke quickly looked away and snatched the towel from Kabuto. Without so much as a bow, Sasuke began towelling himself off.

Danny observed Sasuke's behaviour and sighed.

"You are Uchiha Sasuke, aren't you?" Kabuto asked with curiosity. Sasuke pierced Kabuto with dark, distrustful eyes, but Kabuto just let out a breathless laugh and stood. He blinked at Danny. "What interesting company you keep, Danny."

Kabuto took a step closer to Danny. "You aren't cold? You're dripping wet."

Danny shook his head.

Kabuto drew even closer and then seemed to search Danny's eyes before leaning back and looking him up and down. "Interesting."

"Just… can you tell me where Naruto is?" Danny said. He didn't have time to deal with Kabuto.

"You should get checked-up first. You're bleeding."

Danny looked down at his arm, which was indeed still oozing blood from where Youmu had cut him. From the vague ache in his body, he probably had a number of other injuries that he'd discover fully at a later time when they weren't being masked by worry and lingering adrenaline.

"No need." Danny shook his head. "I'll take care of it."

"And the Uchiha?" Kabuto peered down at Sasuke.

"Same."

"You're sure?" Kabuto pushed in his quiet voice looking at Danny with an indecipherable expression. "I've heard that you resist chakra treatments. I would be _happy_ to—"

"I'm sure." Danny stressed. When Kabuto frowned Danny softened his tone. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about Naruto."

"So stubborn…" Kabuto mused. "Well, the boy is currently in surgery with Shizune."

"What's his post-op room?"

"A-12."

"Thank you." Danny offered a grateful bow. "I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"No."

"Huh?" Danny blinked and Kabuto looked at him seriously.

"You won't see me tomorrow. I'm being reassigned. Special assignment." Kabuto clarified.

"Oh… well… that's… is that a good thing?" Danny blinked, unsure what emotion to inject into his voice.

"Perhaps." Kabuto's mouth quirked in a self-deprecatory way. "They were only too happy to get rid of me here."

Danny rolled his eyes. "That's _not_ what I meant and you know it. I mean, yeah, you're a bit obsessive and totally have no concept of personal space…"

Kabuto raised an eyebrow.

"But you're not a bad guy. You're just _good_ at what you do and that scares them. It makes them all look bad."

"You say that like being powerful is a bad thing." Kabuto chuckled.

"Well, it certainly makes you more enemies than being nondescript would." Danny said with a shrug.

"But it also makes you harder to kill." Kabuto responded and his eyes were suddenly sharp.

Danny considered Kabuto. "Well… regardless, you always have a friend here whenever you need it. Until they find a way to get rid of me too, I guess. Hah…"

Kabuto, far from looking amused, narrowed his eyes. "Be careful, Danny. Don't call down ill-fortune on yourself."

Then, Kabuto put a hand on Danny's shoulder leaned in close. Danny stiffened as Kabuto's mouth came close to his ear.

"I told you before I'd let you come with me. But maybe it's too soon. Know, however, that if they ever do cast you out, you will have a place with me. May we meet again. Be safe. Be _Sound._ "

Just as quickly as he'd moved in, Kabuto had backed away from Danny, his mouth was turned up in an enigmatic smile as he turned to leave.

Danny offered his goodbyes and ignored the odd feeling that, despite the Kabuto's words, this would be the last time he saw the teen. Brushing away the premonition, he turned and, sparing a moment to make sure Sasuke was following, headed down the hospital wing toward Naruto's room.

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

When Shizune rolled Naruto into the room, she didn't even look surprised to see Danny and Sasuke already there.

Naruto was unconscious and his bed was moved to the center of the room. The only other furniture in the room was a table and a cushioned chair. Danny had given the chair and a spare blanket to Sasuke, who now resembled a cocooned caterpillar as he'd curled up in the seat with the blanket wrapped around himself.

Danny sat on the floor, leaning against the chair. He was too worried to even think of sleeping and when Shizune came in he immediately hopped to his feet.

"So? How is he?"

Shizune shot him a tired look of exasperation. "Danny, how do you keep getting yourself into these messes?"

"Shizune…" Danny insisted impatiently.

The medic-ninja looked down at Naruto. There was a thick bandage encompassing his torso and shoulder. "He'll be fine. Miraculously. He's a very hardy child—did most of the work for us, actually."

"Because of the Kyuubi in him?"

Shizune glanced sideways at Danny then looked back down. "You really shouldn't advertise that you know these secrets to just anyone."

"You're _not_ just anyone."

Shizune sighed, "It could have been the Kyuubi." She conceded. "There was an incredible amount of chakra that surged from Naruto to help my treatment. It's almost all subsided now—hard to believe it was ever even there. As for the wound, he'll be a bit sore but if he rests properly for the next few days, we'll probably be able to let him out as early as next week."

She looked at Danny, then back down at Naruto. "You're not leaving this room tonight, are you?"

Danny shook his head.

Shizune sighed again. "Fine. I'll get a nurse to wheel in another bed. Only one though. Two won't fit."

Danny nodded. "That's fine. Thank you, Shizune." Mentally he was already assigning Sasuke to the spare bed. He could crash on the chair.

"Thank me by keeping yourself _out_ of trouble from now on." Shizune said and waved at Danny over her shoulder as she turned away. "I'm also going to call a medic-nin to come in and check you over. No complaints," were her parting words as she left the room, closing the door behind herself.

Danny offered the closed door a tired, rueful smile. "Thanks, Shizune." He turned then, and for a long time he stood a silent vigil over Naruto's bed, watching the child sleep. His thoughts were a messy jumble, but one did clear its way through after a time.

' _He's going to be ok.'_

Danny sniffed and scrubbed at his nose and eyes.

He felt something soft brush against his side and looked down to see a mop of black hair and a small body still wrapped in the thick blanket standing next to him. Putting his arm around Sasuke he hugged the boy close and was happy when Sasuke didn't pull away.

"Hey…"He squeezed Sasuke's shoulder and the boy looked up at him. "So… that little trick you did there where your lips moved and sound came out… Don't suppose there's any chance of that repeating?"

Sasuke shot him a dry, narrow glare that just made Danny grin.

"Oh c'mon! I'd even be happy to get the giant flaming fireball if it means you're speaking."

"Ehem." A cough sounded at the door and Danny and Sasuke whirled around. Sasuke immediately broke free of Danny's hold and shuffled a few steps away. He shirked the blanket from his shoulders and laid it on the chair, gently folded.

Danny blinked as he saw the Third Hokage standing in the doorway of the hospital room, dressed formally in his robes and hat.

"Hokage…" Danny acknowledged.

"Fenton Danny and Uchiha Sasuke." The man offered a benign smile to both of them. "We always seem to meet in times of trouble."

"Does this have to do with Naruto?" Danny asked. "Or have you and the council come to a decision about me?"

The Hokage chuckled. "It is as you say; I have come to tell you the decision the council and I have come to regarding your continued stay in Konohagakure."

Danny braced himself. "So… should I start packing my bags?"

Sasuke stiffened at Danny's words and took a single, obvious step closer to Danny, as to protect the teen. This move earned an amused look from the Hokage.

"Now, there's no need to be hasty. Ah, the young are always so hasty…" The man paused and smiled. "You will be pleased to know that you are not under any investigation by the village."

"No?" Danny couldn't help but be surprised.

The Hokage chuckled. "No. The kunoichi, Youmu, confessed to carrying out a plot to… bring harm to Naruto. It seems she was unfortunately working in collusion with three Konoha ninja who held a grudge against Naruto and paid her for her aid. She further confessed to causing, with the aid of her deceased partner, the deaths of said three Konoha ninja. She admitted to attacking you first, thus justifying you protecting yourselves against her partner."

Danny's eyes lowered. "So… Hibiki is dead then?"

"Her partner? Yes."

Danny pondered how convenient it was that the entire story seemed to have neatly fell into place like pieces of a puzzle. Also, how convenient it was that there was no mention of Orochimaru or Danzo or the Kyuubi. Danny hadn't needed to lift a finger in his own defense and wasn't that… convenient.

"Her confession did raise certain… questions about you, however." The Hokage continued.

' _There it is.'_ Danny looked up and met the man's eyes. "Me?"

The Hokage smiled and the wrinkles around his eyes deepened. "Well, I think we can afford to let some things lie—on _both_ our parts."

' _Secrets. Always with the secrets_.' So the Hokage himself didn't want Danny telling anyone about Orochimaru, or that Naruto was host to the Kyuubi. In return the Hokage wouldn't ask questions about Danny's… abilities.

Danny did wonder though, if the Hokage was aware of the hand Danzo had played in orchestrating this entire plot.

Danny didn't think he particularly cared if anyone found out about his so-called 'powers'. He brought a hand up and pressed fingertips against his sternum as he thought. Whatever power he'd drawn on to change into his ghost-half in Naruto's subconscious had faded away the moment he'd awoken. He couldn't go ghost and, without Sam, there was no way to prove he had any ability to control ice. The only thing left was that his ability to see ghosts. So far, only Naruto and Sasuke knew he could do that—Kakashi too, maybe. But still… Kurenai had seen his ghost-half. And if his story _was_ to come to light… His story, if told, was so unreal, so unbelievable, that he half-feared these ninja would kill him on the spot for spouting such a ludicrous tale.

That or they'd find a way to use his ability to speak with the dead.

So Danny swallowed and nodded his acceptance.

"Very good." The Hokage praised. "Then, on to the last matter."

Danny raised his eyebrows.

"There were still a number of councilmembers who were wary of leaving you to your own devices, given the… knowledge… you've acquired and the company you keep. So, I have suggested that you be put under the watchful eye of an old, distinguished clan. The head of the clan is quite young, but if he will permit it, you will become a ward of the house of Uchiha."

The Hokage looked down at Sasuke who stared back with wide eyes. Danny didn't blame the boy. He was goggling as well.

"What say you, Uchiha Sasuke? Do you agree?" The Hokage asked with a smile.

A minute passed, then two.

Then, Sasuke raised his chin and in a voice clear as a bell, he spoke.

"I accept."

The Hokage looked exceedingly pleased and Danny just stared at the back of Sasuke's head.

"Well! Then that is arranged. You, Fenton Danny, may stay in Konoha as long as you like with the freedoms and benefits of any other citizen. You now also have the freedom to leave Konoha, but be aware that the Uchiha house now bears direct responsibility for your actions."

Danny thought that was a pretty ridiculous loophole to allow him to stay unfettered in Konoha. But if it worked…

No matter the ridiculousness of the deal, the Hokage had apparently, once again, gone out of his way to help Danny. For that, the teen was grateful.

"Thank you," He bowed.

"It is my pleasure." The Hokage gave a slight inclination of his head.

When Danny raised his head, he saw the brim of the Hokage's hat and suddenly his mind flashed back to the graveyard when Naruto's father had protected him from the ghosts.

"That symbol…" Danny murmured.

The Hokage hummed in acknowledgement.

"The symbol on your hat, what does it mean?" Danny wondered.

"Fire." The Hokage supplied, "You look confused. Perhaps it makes more sense in context. Here." The man swept over to the desk and pulled a pen and paper closer to himself. He drew out the symbol for 'fire' then underneath it made another, more complex symbol. "This is the symbol for Fire. Below it is the symbol for Shadow. Together they form the Kanji for the word 'Hokage'."

Danny was thunderstruck.

The first three symbols on Naruto's father's back had meant 'fourth'. And then the last two were 'Hokage'?

But the man standing before Danny was the _Third_ Hokage.

But there were _Four_ faces on the Hokage Monument. How had he never noticed that before?

"Is something the matter?" The Hokage asked Danny with mild concern.

 _Secrets._ There were so many secrets in Konoha.

'Do people in this village even know who Naruto's Father was?' Danny wanted to ask, but didn't.

Instead he plastered a smile on his face and shook his head.

"Nothing is wrong. I'm… just tired. Thank you… for everything."

When the Hokage left, Danny sat heavily on the edge of Naruto's bed. Sasuke was eying him.

Then, a small groan came from under the blankets and Danny was up and standing at Naruto's side.

"Urrrgh…" Naruto groaned.

"Hey kiddo." Danny grinned and brushed Naruto's hair back from his face with gentle fingers. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"What happened?" Naruto asked and his voice was already gaining strength. The boy made to sit up.

"Whoa there, just… relax a bit for sec ok? You went through some pretty tough things tonight." Danny hurried to say and his eyebrows scrunched in worry as he saw Naruto's eyes flash in pain. The kid slumped and Danny carefully guided him back down into a lying position. He didn't remove his hands afterward—feeling a little possessive, a little scared—he needed the contact to ensure himself that Naruto was back with him. _Safe_.

"I saw…" Naruto's eyes widened. "Are you ok? And Sasuke—" Naruto's eyes flicked back and forth between them. "Are you guys ok?"

"We're fine. It's you we were worried about." Danny, smiled, eyes fond.

"What _happened_?"

"Well…" Danny stalled, his hand hesitating in its quest to smoothing out Naruto's unruly hair. He thought about all the information that had been withheld from Naruto: did the boy even know who his parents were? Did he know about the Kyuubi? And then there was Sasuke: whose very much alive brother had saved both their lives earlier that evening. Then Danny thought of the information he had withheld from both kids: How he'd met both their parents but kept it a secret.

He took a deep breath and made a decision.

Konoha had secrets. Many, many secrets. Danny had spent so much time in Amity Park keeping secrets from his family. Those secrets had cost him everything he had and more. Now, he had Naruto and Sasuke. They had become closer than friends. They were his family now and Danny was done keeping secrets from his family.

"I need to tell you both some things…"

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

 _One Month Later_

Sasuke liked high places. Danny didn't know if it was a new habit that had only developed after the loss of his family, but the boy had a thing for sitting high above the line of sight and staring down at the masses—removed from people enough to avoid interaction but close enough to watch and feel some level of attachment. Danny, whose ghost-hunting-trained instincts had him glancing up and not to the sides in response to the hair prickling sensation of being watched, had often spotted the little figure in blue and white sitting atop buildings or high in trees.

It was good, Danny thought, that Sasuke had not resorted to the complete social isolation Orochimaru had almost driven him to. Sure, the child's integration back into society was slow, and it wasn't helped at all by the way people would shy away from the boy and whisper about him behind his back, but at least he was integrating. Still moving forward.

The sadder Sasuke was, the closer he would get to the haunted areas of the Uchiha compound to brood and the happier he was, the higher he would go to gloat.

So, despite the fact that he still hadn't completely warmed to the idea of a kiddie-ninja-training school, Danny was nevertheless pleased that, post the qualification examination, he found Sasuke sitting on top of Hokage Hill, feet dangling audaciously over The Second's stone headband, a piece of paper clutched between his fingers.

"So, you got in?" Danny asked as he approached Sasuke's back.

Sasuke was silent for a long time, but Danny was patient. He waited, walking up to stand next to the seated boy and gazed down at the prominent drop that cut away before his toes. Danny was satisfied to notice that the spectacular height instilled no fear in him. He gazed down at the dizzying drop calmly. Oddly serene in the face of potential death.

Danny hadn't tried to reach for his ghost half since that rainy night weeks ago when he'd reinforced Kyuubi's cage. Since that night though, he felt different—lighter, less constrained. It was as though he'd been wearing restraints for months and they had finally been cut off.

He smiled.

"Of course." Came the Sasuke's eventual response and Danny smirked at the cocky smugness in the boy's tone. It was amazing how quickly Sasuke was building up his confidence. Danny would let the boy have his moment.

A sudden shout made Danny nearly hop off the edge of the cliff.

"OIE! DANNY! DANNY!"

Sasuke cringed and shot Danny a pleading look that was completely ignored as the teen's smirk widened into a grin at the voice of the third member of their family. Turning and taking a few steps away from the cliff edge—the kid was going to be the death of him with his antics, honestly!—Danny grinned widely and spread his arms. A moment later a small orange figure collided with him, tossing small arms around his waist and hugging the breath out of him.

Naruto's shoulder had healed well—more that well. Not two weeks after having been skewered by a sword, Naruto had full mobility. A month later and the wound had faded completely, leaving only a thin white line as a reminder of what he'd suffered.

There hadn't appeared to be any lasting scars on his soul either, for which Danny was endlessly grateful.

"I did it! I did it!" Naruto cried, hopping up and down he brought a crumpled piece of paper up and waved it in Danny's face. "I did it! I passed! Look!"

Taking the paper gently from Naruto, Danny did his best to smooth out the wrinkles before examining the page. Looking at the test was like looking back in time at one of his own tests and Danny couldn't help the nostalgic smile that grew on his face. How Jazz must've felt, Danny now knew, as he looked at the barely passing grade hard won through difficulties untold.

' _Jazz… Mom, Dad… Tucker… Sam… Lancer… I hope you're at peace now.'_

"Are you okay, Danny?" Naruto, sensitive as he was to pain, was looking up at Danny worriedly. "Is it something I—?"

"No." Danny stopped the boy's self-deprecation. His expression was fierce as he gripped Naruto's shoulder tight. "This is amazing. I am proud of you, Naruto."

The boy practically glowed under the praise and Danny saw the ghostly manifestation of the nine-tailed fox move. The fox raised its head, gracing Danny with a brief, stern expression. Danny felt Naruto's arms wrap around his middle again and returned the hug, even as he matched stares with the Kyuubi. Somehow, he doubted this was the last time the nine-tails was going to be causing trouble.

"Ehem." A quiet cough drew Danny's attention downward and he cocked an eyebrow as a second sheet of paper was thrust up toward him.

Drawing the page carefully out of the proffered hand, Danny glanced down and saw the row of near-perfect scores that he'd already anticipated.

Transferring the sheet over to his other hand—carefully, since, unlike Naruto's report, Sasuke's was pristine and white as unwrapped printer paper—Danny smiled and placed his free hand on top of Sasuke's head.

"Well done, Sasuke." He said softly and was rewarded, not with a smile, but with a certain relieved gratefulness in Sasuke's eyes.

For a moment, the three of them were quiet and Danny couldn't express the utter peacefulness that came over him in those few moments.

Suddenly, Naruto broke out of Danny's hold and the teen looked down at the child in confusion.

"But you're prouder of me than you are of Sasuke, right Danny? You're _my_ big brother after all." Naruto puffed out his chest and nodded in self-satisfaction. "You _have_ to be prouder of me!"

Then, before Danny could reply, both he and Naruto were startled by another voice that suddenly piped up.

"Only because simply passing for you is a task so monumental that it strains the imagination." Sasuke's quip came fast and sharp and it wasn't until it was out that the boy truly realized that he'd spoken, eyes widening in shock.

Danny, too, was looking at Sasuke in astonishment, not just for stringing more words together than he'd yet to hear the boy utter _in total_ , but also because he was quite happily surprised to discover that the boy had such a mouth on him.

"Ha! I _knew_ you were sarcastic!" Danny exclaimed as he pointed a finger in Sasuke's face and grinned. "I was _right!_ "

Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he sent Danny a very familiar, withering glare.

Naruto, on the other hand, was becoming flush with righteous indignation.

"W-well! You… You're ugly!" Naruto blustered.

"Right, because _that's_ a mature comeback that has _absolutely nothing_ to do with the conversation." Sasuke retorted and rolled his eyes.

"Ugly!"

"Loser."

Both boys were glaring at each other so harshly that the very air between their eyes crackled with energy.

And Danny could only laugh.

Things were not perfect. Far from it. But for these precious few moments, life was worth living. Danny was glad to be alive and that realization made his head spin.

' _Are you proud of me?'_ He asked his family, his friends… even Mr. Lancer. _'I think I'm happy.'_

* * *

 **:o:**

* * *

 _Someplace Far Away_

"He'll come back, won't he? He'll come back? He has to come back!"

"Tell us Clockwork, Danny will come back won't he?"

Deep in the ghost zone, within a tall clock tower, giant gears and cogs shifted and turned with a constant, haunting sound. Far below these gears, near the floor of the clock tower, a group of ghosts huddled in a mass. At their centre was a bowed, withered, cloaked figure. The hood of the figure was raised but did not hide the prominent beard that spilled forth toward the ground. In one gnarled hand was a tall sceptre dotted with many clocks.

"Amity Park will not survive without him. He has to come back!" One ghost, that of a teenaged girl with long translucent hair that had been a vibrant red in life, said passionately. Jazz Fenton.

"He's Danny Phantom! He's a hero… We can't just let him run away! He's the only one who can stop this from happening!" Another ghost, this one a girl with short hair and a petite frame, threw a hand out wide and gestured to a tall mirror as she spoke. Sam Manson.

The face of the mirror bore no reflection. Instead, the mirror revealed a city—or what had one been a city and now only resembled it in only the most basic sense. What had once been tall buildings were craters blasted into the earth. The very ground smoked as though it had recently been on fire, not a single speck of green life could be seen in the mass of brown, grey dust. A charred sign read "Amity Park: A Nice Place to—" and some morbid personality had blacked out the word 'Live' and replaced it with 'Die'.

The only sign of life in the image was a figure dressed in red riding a sleek hover board. Valerie Grey, the Red Huntress. Valerie sped over the scenery and the mirror followed her as she tracked across the ruined city. Eventually she arrived at her destination: the damaged remains of Casper High. Windows had been broken, and the building looked bruised and beaten as though a wrecking ball had taken a few passes at its walls. But miraculously the building was still standing sturdily. The Red Huntress landed gracefully and jogged into Casper High. Moments later a green, glowing dome grew to envelop the entire building. The image in the mirror shivered.

"Could he really stop all this? One teenager?" An overweight, balding man mused. Mr. Lancer.

"He can! You haven't seen what Danny can do!" A young ghost wearing a beret and glasses nodded emphatically. Tucker Foley.

"My son…" A woman with tearstained cheeks clasped her hands before her mouth and looked at Clockwork. Maddie Fenton. "You said he no longer has his…powers." She choked over the word. "If he doesn't have any powers how can he do anything? Danny… Danny is… You said he's safe where he is now. I don't want him to be in danger again."

"Mom…" The ghost of Jazz Fenton put a hand consolingly on her mother's shoulder.

The only ghost who hadn't spoken yet—a man with large proportions and a jaw as hard and angled as the expression on his face—stared at the mirror. Jack Fenton.

Abruptly, the image in the mirror changed.

Now it showed a thin man. Though this man was only in his early fifties, he was grizzled and aged, his face bearing the expression of a beaten dog. Vlad Masters.

Vlad was clothed in rags and was huddled in the corner of a large, charcoal-stained room. What had once been a pristine laboratory was utterly devastated. The caved in walls, shredded furniture and glass shards strewn across the floor gave the impression that a bomb had gone off in the room. Vlad himself did not look much better: his once fine custom suit was dusty and frayed. It looked like he hadn't washed or changed in days.

Vlad was seated on the floor in a corner. He held his head in his hands and bowed forward in prostration. The force of his emotion drove him forward and back in incessant rocking. The words that fell from his mouth repeated with an edge of mania and the look in his eyes was not that of a sane man.

The mirror did not transmit sound so they could not hear what he was saying, but his lips were easy to read and so they all knew:

" _I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Daniel. Daniel, please forgive me. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Daniel…"_

"Vladdi—… Vlad was at least half of that monster. And he was the one who created the weapon that made it in the first place. If _he_ can't fight it… then what makes you think Danny can?" Jack Fenton eventually spoke.

"Danny beat Pariah Dark." Sam said with conviction.

"Only with the help of the Ecto Suit." Maddie reminded them.

"He's stopped an invasion before." Jazz defended softly and both Maddie and Jack's eyes snapped to her. Maddie's face showed alarm and worry while Jack was astounded. "More than once." There was a fierceness to Jazz's expression. Pride and protectiveness.

"He can fight this one too… he can." Tucker said as though trying to convince himself.

"He's a Fenton. And Fentons are fighters." Jack agreed with conviction. Then, his expression faltered. "But—"

"None of that takes away from the fact that Danny doesn't have ghost powers anymore. Whatever he was doing before—whatever risks he was taking—he _can't_ anymore. And you can't ask him to." Maddie said with a shake of her head.

"But you weren't there. I _saw_ him, Mrs. Fenton! Danny isn't human. Not completely. He _still has powers_." Sam insisted.

"We can't stop this thing." Tucker said lowly and the truth of those words was undisputed. "We _need_ Danny. He _has_ to come back to Amity Park… right?"

And as one, all the ghosts turned to Clockwork, their eyes desperate and beseeching an answer.

At length, the time master spoke.

"Young Daniel… will return to Amity Park." He said, receiving mixed reactions from those around him. "It might be in one year, or three, or ten, but the hands of destiny will once again play a part in pushing Danny in the right direction. The path will be strife with difficulty and pain, for these are the tools Fate must use to forge her best heroes… and, in time, Danny Phantom will be one of the greatest."

* * *

 **:o:**

 **END**

 **:o:**

* * *

And there we have it! So concludes **Ectoplasm and Chakra**.

For everyone who has read this far and—most especially—to _Everyone_ who has left a review: **Thank You.** The response to this fic was above and beyond what I expected. It was a lot of fun taking this journey with you all. I hope you, too, enjoyed the story and its conclusion.

I aim to make my writing self-explanatory but I realize things might not have always been clear. And so, since it is indeed the end of EaC, I figure I should take time to answer a few questions that have been tossed about since the fic began:

 **So does Danny have ghost powers or doesn't he? Whaaa? Explain!** Right. So… I left hints here and there about the nature of Danny's powers but I deliberately left it vague for a couple of reasons: 1) There was simply no character conveniently hanging around who could act as an authority and explain what was going on: Danny barely understood his powers when he _had_ them and pretty much no one we met in Konoha even knew what ectoplasm was; and 2) It wasn't really the focus of the story… So I felt like delving too deep into that tangent would take away from the human interactions and development in the story. BUT for those of you who _really really REALLY_ want to know what I was thinking, I'll give the condensed version here. So… we all know Vlad separated Danny from his ghost-half in a physically violent and potentially deadly manner. Yet, in TUE human Vlad seemed relatively stable while full-ghost Phantom clearly was not. This suggests that maybe the split wasn't equal: maybe Human Danny was left with enough of himself to remain stable, while Phantom was not. The accident that made Danny half-ghost in the first place caused ectoplasm to bond to and _change_ half of Danny's DNA. Vlad couldn't possibly tear out half of Danny's DNA without killing the kid, and yet he did pull out the _power_ that formed Phantom. Therefore, while Danny lost the "battery power" to turn into Phantom, he retained his "empty of charge" ghostly core. What does this mean? Well, simply put, Danny is able to manifest some ghostly powers by being near and unconsciously siphoning off power from other ghosts (he can also draw on ambient ectoplasmic energy the same way ninjas draw on Chakra. He just can't really retain it like he used to when he was in Amity Park because his core was fried by Vlad). Danny has showed off this ability a few times: remember Lancer was around when Danny used ice to keep Choji's concussion from getting worse? Also… _this whole chapter._ Yep.

 **What was up with no one in Konoha being able to sense Danny?** Here's another point that was difficult to outright explain in the fic. I tried hinting at it but I'm not sure how clear I was. Basically, the way I thought of it was: if Chakra is the energy of the living, then Ectoplasm is the energy of the dead. Danny was fundamentally changed by the accident that made him half-ghost. Not even Vlad's Long Nails of Doom could change that. After the accident made him half-ghost, Danny stopped channelling life-energy and started channelling… for lack of a better term… "death-energy". Chakra and Ectoplasm exist like two sides of a coin: always together but never quite able to _see_ one another. Danny himself exists on the balance of the coin: he draws on ectoplasm for energy, which is why ninjas can't see him, but he _is_ _alive,_ which is why "he" can see chakra.

 **Sequel?** As much as the thought of Konoha!Danny returning to Amity Park sparks mini-movies behind my eyes, I don't think a sequel is likely at this time. I know some of you were probably hoping or anticipating that this fic would bleed over into the Naruto Timeline but for me this was always intended to be a prequel to Naruto. The focus in this story was always meant to be Danny overcoming the loss of his loved ones and finding a new home in Konoha. In addition... I unfortunately simply don't have time to invest in that much writing… even if I did find time, I'd like to work on other projects first. But hey! If any of you want to take a shot at some sort of sequel, please do feel free! I ask only that you would kindly give credit to this story and also please let me know so I can read it too!

If you've made it this far please do drop a review and let me know what you thought. Good or bad, I welcome any feedback.

Thank you for reading,

 **Sholay**


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